


The Monster Awakens

by WIX2



Category: Monster (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Evil Plans, Family Drama, Family Dynamics, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Siblings, Reconciliation, Redemption, Revenge, Suicidal Thoughts, Takes Place after the end of Monster, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:35:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 34,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26362012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WIX2/pseuds/WIX2
Summary: After being saved by Tenma once again, Johan wakes up, recovers and he runs away. No one knows what his plans are, but Tenma and Nina strongly believe that they will never hear from him ever again.However, as soon as Nina is targeted by an unknown criminal, Johan comes back, ready to protect his sister...
Relationships: Johan Liebert & Tenma Kenzou, Nina Fortner & Johan Liebert
Comments: 26
Kudos: 45





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, new story! So, I've recently read the manga Monster, and I have also watched the anime. Both are brilliant, and I love Johan and Nina. This story will focus on their relationship. (with Tenma of course)
> 
> Hope you will enjoy that story!
> 
> WIX2

Johan dreams of his sister. 

Of course he does. Nothing surprising here. Most of the time, these dreams would focus on her revenge. Her pathetic, but still entertaining, hunt. 

He had wanted so badly to know if she would be able to pull the trigger as soon as they meet again that his impatient mind offered him those dreams. In the meanwhile. 

Could she? Could she shoot him in the head like she did back then? Or wouldn’t she dare to do it this time, and spare him? She could be too afraid, too broken to end everything once and for all. Or too generous, who knows. 

Anna is the epitome of kindness and forgiveness. Compassion. She has always been, as opposed to him. That kindness of hers, he surprised himself to enjoy it, clinging to it, even though he could despise that characteristic of hers at the same time. 

He liked dreaming of his sister. It never bored him. 

Sometimes, in some of his dreams, she would fire at him, without any hesitation. Her hand firmly holding a gun and pointing it at him. She would face him without trembling, her beautiful eyes looking right into his own. 

No compassion. No kindness. No fear. The true face of a monster. A beautiful monster, similar to his.

However, in other dreams, she would fail. She would try to pull the trigger, but would lower her gun with shaking hands, bursting into tears and shaking her head. Looking down. Failing to shoot him. That was so disappointing.

Anna putting an end to his life is indeed his favorite scenario. It would be such an honor, to be killed by her. She would be right to murder him. She would be finally free. 

Well, now he knows how it turned out. She didn’t shoot him. Disappointing, but predictable.

However, this current dream is quite different. That’s intriguing. He wonders what triggers that change. It looks more like a memory than an actual dream. What is happening? Johan is not sure. 

They’re children again, walking together, her hand in his own. Trying to fight the devastating and freezing wind lashing their face. Alone. It’s like they’re the only two people in the whole world. 

He has a plan, and his sister trusts him. She follows him without any question. She looks at him with so much trust and tenderness… That’s why he mustn’t fail. He has to get her away from the monster. To get her to safety, by crossing the border. 

They have to keep walking. 

That is why he killed the couple who had offered them food. The two children were starving, so this was welcomed, and they indeed looked nice, but Johan knew better. He didn’t trust them. At all. In fact, he doesn’t trust anyone except his sister, and especially not adults.

They can abuse them, just like the others did. 

He has to eliminate the witnesses of their escape. So that the monster won’t find them. 

They have to keep walking. 

That doesn’t mean they can’t have a break, though. They’re both haggard right now, still standing only out of desperation. They hardly move their trembling and weak legs. His sister is the only one who shows her tiredness. 

Johan keeps his unreadable mask over his features, but he quickly nods at his sister when she asks – almost begs him – to stop. 

They both stop, sitting down on the hot sand close to each other. Their feet hurt. Their shoes are ruined. Johan notices that his sister’s feet and calf are bloody. 

He’ll have to take a look at that.

Johan looks up at her. She is trying to wipe away the dust staining her pink dress. Even though she is dirty, she is so perfect. 

She is the most beautiful being in the entire world. 

“Brother, are you alright?” She looks at him worryingly, her kind and sweet voice breaking the silence, and he smiles at her. He manages to do so without controlling his mouth. 

It just comes. 

He doesn’t answer though. Instead, he takes a look at their provision. He doesn’t allow his expression to change, but worry stabs inside his chest. They’re running out of food and water. He doesn’t mind for himself, but his sister will need more to eat. 

He takes one sandwich, and he hands it to her. “Eat,” he just says. He won't eat tonight. His sister’s face lights up. As she takes it, she grins at him. “Thanks, brother!” 

He wishes he could be that innocent, that joyful for small things. Just like her. But he can’t. He can’t feel the way she feels. He doesn’t know if he’s ever been capable of that, even.

He doesn't move, watching his sister. Then, she giggles for some reason, and she doesn’t start eating as Johan expects. He slightly frowns while his sister cuts her sandwich in two parts, keeps one - the smallest - for herself and hands him the other one. “That’s for you!”

He doesn’t take it, and he shakes his head. His face remains unreadable, but he feels something. Something warm. Tenderness. “You need to eat.”

“You too!” She replies, stubborn. She crosses her arms against her chest. “I’m not eating if you don’t, brother!”

Johan purses his lips. He starts thinking of how he could make her change her mind, using the right words to manipulate her, but by looking at her severe eyes, he cedes. He knows that look of hers. He knows everything about her. 

It means that she is not going to give in, that if he doesn’t do as she said, she is going to insist, maybe throw a tantrum. 

He does not want them to quarrel. Not today. He accepts his sister's gift with a sigh, and he slowly takes a bite, looking at her. She looks happy, and a lovely smile – a triumphal one too – lights up her entire face. 

She then imitates him. Well, she almost devours her meal in one mouthful. They eat in silence for long minutes, both looking blankly in front of them. 

They’re truly alone. 

“Brother…” She sounds hesitant, now. Timid. “Do you think Mother is looking of us? Do you think… she will come back?” She is nervous now, Johan knows it because she starts playing with her blond hair in bunches.

The boy avoids his sister’s gaze, looking down. He can’t blame her for having that question in mind, but he hates hearing it. 

He doesn’t want to think of Mother. She abandoned them, and failed to protect them from the monster. She pretended to care about them. Just a lie. 

Johan remembers crying, begging her to stay when she coldly announced that she would leave them, his sister trying to comfort him. She had been stronger than him. 

He doesn’t understand his sister: she shouldn’t be waiting for Mother. 

“We don’t need her,” That’s all he says. Vague and cryptic. 

As always. 

She sadly stares at him for long seconds, probably because she can’t analyze his measured and slow voice. “That’s a no, then…” she deduces. Yes, she is smart and she can read between the lines. “I…” she sighs and she hugs herself with her arms. “I miss her,” her voice is small. “Why did she leave us, brother? Why?”

She looks so vulnerable.

Johan doesn’t answer. That’s what he always does: he never shares anything about himself, even when he knows his sister is waiting for it. Needs it. 

“I… I’m scared, brother,” and she is right to be scared. They’re in the middle of nowhere, in a hostile and dangerous environment. Alone. 

He closes his eyes for a second. He knows what come after her quivering voice. Tears and sobs are going to take over very soon. And then tears pour down her face, although she tries to be silent and hide them. 

He hates seeing her cry. It triggers something in him. 

She is the only person who seems to influence him. They do share a connection, a connection Johan values a lot. Their mother was important to him as well, but she betrayed him. Betrayed them. She chose. She chose to get rid of his sister. If she had truly loved them, she wouldn't have chosen. She would have protected them both.

His sister deserved better. 

He stands up, and he approaches his crying sister. He ignores her teary and confused eyes looking up at him. He just crouches down behind her back and gently hugs her. 

“We’re together, and we’ll always be,” Johan calmly whispers. She sniffs, and she doesn’t resist. She cuddles up to him, pressing her back against his chest. “It’s just the two of us, and we’re going to make it. You and me,” she is still crying, but his kind words seem to calm her down a bit.

He can imagine her weakly smile through her tears. “Yes… You and me, always…”

Johan nods, pleased. “Now…” Time to change topics. “Show me your leg.”

She turns her head to look at him, seeming confused for a second before realizing what he means. “Oh...” she looks down at her injured calf. It must be painful. Her lips shape a shy smile, as she wipes away her tears and clears her throat. She tries to be strong, for him. She often does that, playing the strong girl. To reassure him. “That’s nothing…”

He smiles at her, gentle. “Show me,” his voice remains firm, though. 

This memory slowly trails off, and Johan can’t understand why. He wants to stay here, with his sister. Back when they were together. Back when she wasn’t aware of his destructive nature, of the monster growing inside of him, ready to explode. 

Now, he must leave that memory, it seems. What’s going on? He hates being confused. 

He usually controls everything, whether it is his movements, his words, his expression or the entire world. He then decides whether to destroy or let life run its course. Depending on his mood. If he’s bored, angered or depressed. 

He’s not in control now. 

It seems like he is pulled out of his memory. Violently. The scenery suddenly turns too quickly around him, and it changes. 

He opens his eyes, a quivering breath stuck inside his throat. His blurry vision is overwhelmed by white everywhere. He sees white. Only white. Then little by little, it's clearer. Less blinding. A room. That’s a room. 

A medical room. 

He is in a hospital, laying down on a bed. A white bed.

He is awake.

OoO

Dieter is too busy reading the cookery book to notice that the front door opens and shuts. As soon as he hears Nina’s heels striking the floor though, he understands that she is home.

“Hey Nina!”

“Dieter?” She is surprised to see him. She takes off her long coat and shoes, gathers them on the closest chair and she quickly joins him in the kitchen. “What are you doing here? Weren’t you supposed to see some friends of yours tonight?” 

Dieter glances at her and he doesn’t like what he sees. Her face is paler than usual, and the dark circles under her eyes don’t help. She also chose today to wear a ponytail, displaying her haggard features. 

She really seems tired. And Dieter knows that it’s not because of her exhausting and demanding work.

“Well…” Dieter pretends to look for the tomatoes on the work surface, using the precious seconds it gives him to think of an answer. He has to make up a convincing lie. “Yes, that was tonight, but I'm not going! One of my friend got sick!”

He winces. He could have done a better job. 

“Oh, really?” A sincere smile slightly lights up her face. That’s the cheerful Nina he knows. “You’re a terrible liar…” She doesn’t sound angry or upset. She is as sweet and kind as ever, just teasing him. 

Dieter can’t fool her anyway. He knows that. He shrugs, and he starts peeling the tomatoes. He then has to, wait let him see… what’s said on the cookery book? Season them with dill. Got it. 

“What’s happening?” She moves just next to him. She takes a knife and she cuts the onions Dieter has prepared and left in a corner. “Are you OK? Do you want to talk about something?” Her voice exposes her concerns. She is worried about him. 

Dieter smiles at her. “No, I’m good… It’s just…” OK, time to be honest now. “I didn’t want to leave you alone tonight…” He doesn’t need to say much more, Nina understands what he means. 

Today is the anniversary of the Fortners’ death, her parents killed by Johan. She hates that date, because it forces her to go back then. To think of the horrible day when her whole world collapsed, completely destroyed by her brother. 

A brother who is now still in the coma, as far as she knows. 

Her eyes widen, astonished. Dieter is not supposed to know that. She has never mentionned it. She looks at him in the eye. Her stare is intense. It makes the boy uncomfortable. “How do you know that it's today…?” she stops, and then she understands as she gently rolls her eyes. “Oh let me guess: Tenma…?”

“Yes…” Dieter purses his lips, avoiding her blue eyes. “Maybe...”

“He told you to watch over me today?”

She is correct.

“Technically, not really,” Dieter says, his voice gentle. He is careful, he doesn’t want to upset Nina. And especially not today. “I got him on the phone two hours ago. We spoke for some time, and then he insinuated that today was…” he clears his throat. “not a fun day for you and that you may need company. I didn’t know what he was talking about, so I asked him about it, and he told me.”

“He’s impossible!” Nina sighs, shaking her head. Dieter can hear the fondness in her tone though. She is not that upset. Tenma and Nina care for each other, so Nina can’t blame him for being protective. And Dieter needed to know eventually. “I appreciate what you’re doing, Dieter, truly, but I don’t want you to stop enjoying yourself for me.”

Dieter carefully scatters the tomatoes across the plate, mixes them with drill. He then opens the oven, and he puts the plate inside. “That’s OK!” 

“I’m fine, Dieter.”

She sounds convincing, but her tired face tells him otherwise. She knows how to lie, how to dissimulate until her body can’t take it anymore and betrays her. He offers her a bright smile. “If you’re fine, then that’s perfect! We will have a nice dinner!” He points at the oven, and he raises his chin up, playing the proud boy. “Oh, and I’ve cooked! Like a chef!”

She chuckles and her blue eyes sparkle. A victory for Dieter. “Well, sorry to tell you that, Chef, but it smells like something is burning…” She is just teasing. 

“Not cool!” 

They both laugh. Then Nina sets the table. They both sit down and they start eating. It tastes good, actually. Like always. Dieter is a skilled cook. “I wanted to go to the cemetery tonight…” she suddenly whispers, not looking at him. Her voice sounds so small all of the sudden. 

"Are you sure you want to go alone?"

“Would you like to come with me?”

Dieter doesn’t bother to hide his surprise. “Really?”

“I don’t mind,” she shrugs and looks down, playing with her food instead of eating. “You can come with me if you want, but you can say no, it’s OK-” Dieter firmly interrupts her. 

“I come!” He doesn’t want her to go alone. 

She doesn’t say anything, but he can see that her eyes thank him for these words. They finish eating quickly, without really talking to each other. Then, Dieter calls a taxi and they’re both out, going to the cemetery. 

Nina takes a deep breath in the car, and she closes her eyes. She looks at the window to distract herself. She is prepared for this. She is. It’s still hard to see her parents’ grave. Even though she takes care of it, decorating it with flowers, it seems so tern, devoid of life. 

Dieter’s presence is comforting, and she is grateful that he’s here. Maybe she indeed needed company tonight, after all. She’ll have to thank Tenma the next time she sees him. 

They finally arrive, and as Dieter is occupied paying the taxi driver, Nina gets out of the car, arranges her coat and scarf around her neck and she narrows her eyes, trying to see. It’s really dark out here, as it’s late and there are not lots of street lights. 

Dieter joins her. “Let’s go then…” she speaks, not really knowing what she has just said. Dieter takes her hand, silently telling her that he’s here. It is more efficient than empty words. 

Nina weakly smiles at him, and they go. On the way, she takes the watering can, and they come close to the Fortners’ grave, stopping in front of it. As Nina waters the beautiful and colorful flowers, Dieter thinks that the grave is small. Well decorated, but still… small.

Nina doesn’t say a word. She drops the watering can next to her feet, and she then stays motionless, looking blankly down at it. It is hard to read her expression as they’re in the middle of the night. 

Dieter knows she is lost in her thoughts. He hopes she relives happy memories, but he is not that naive. She must be thinking of their murder. The day she discovered their bodies. And she must also be thinking of their murderer. She was 20. Only 20.

It’s so unfair. 

“They were amazing…” she suddenly says, and it’s almost a broken whisper. Dieter looks up at her. “They treated me like their own daughter. They were my family, Dieter,” her voice quivers, but her face remains expressionless. Like… too exhausted to express anything. “They didn’t deserve that. They were good people. They didn’t deserve to be killed,” she is rambling now. 

Dieter doesn’t say anything. He knows she just needs to talk. He squeezes her hand. He’s here. That’s what he is saying. 

Her impassive expression finally breaks. Her blue eyes fill with tears that threaten to pour down her face, and her lips are trembling. “You know, it’s hard because… It’s J…” it’s hard to say his name in front of her parents’ grave. She tries again. “It’s Johan who offered me this family. He’s the one who left me with them, knowing they would treat me well. He’s the one who gave me this wonderful family… But he had to destroy it. Come back and destroy everything.”

Her voice doesn’t sound angry. She is not angry at her brother anymore, not really, mostly because she forgave him a long time ago, but also because she is too exhausted now. 

She has spent too much time and effort hating him, wanting nothing more than killing him. That has been useless. She understands now why her brother did this. Because he thought he had to. Because his messed up and broken mind thought he had to. To remain nameless. A nameless monster. With no one to remember him or know his past, except for his other half. And Doctor Tenma, also. 

It is not enough to justify a double homicide, of course, but understanding is an important part of her recovery. An important part that helped her forgive him and free herself from her pitiful hunt, driven by guilt and rage. 

Only, the pain is still here, as intense as ever. She guesses it will never go away. She’ll have to carry that pain with her, always. Pain because of what her parents lived. Pain because of how her brilliant brother ended.

She sniffs. “You know, most of the time, I think I finally managed to move on… But then this… anniversary arrives, and… it’s like I must restart. It’s like I decline.”

Dieter shakes his head. “You’ve moved on, Nina,” he firmly claims, and he insists as she shakes her head. “You have. Remember what I told you one day? We have to share and create happy memories, in order to live. We can’t stay in our past. That’s what you did, and you decided to move on. It’s normal that pain comes back, Nina. It’s painful, but it does not mean that you restart.” 

He tries to smile at her. “Tomorrow is going to be a great day, you'll see!”

She smiles and she nods. She doesn’t seem convinced, but his words help her, still. “Thank you.”

Suddenly, Dieter’s phone rings. He frowns. He doesn’t know who this could be. Nina doesn’t seem to be touched by this interruption. She just stares at the grave. The boy takes his phone, and as he sees that it is Tenma, his worry grows. 

“Yes?”

“Dieter!” Tenma’s voice sounds so relieved to have him on the phone, as if he fears that he might be dead or something. He sounds out of breath, also. His panic is obvious. Blatant. 

Dieter tenses up immediately, and his mouth goes dry. “Are you OK?! Where are you now?!” Tenma continues. 

“Yes, I'm fine, I'm with Nina…” The boy answers, and he notices that Nina now looks at him, frowning. “What’s happening?”

There is a silence for a long moment, a silence Dieter can’t comprehend, and then Tenma speaks again with a frightened and broken voice. Dieter feels like someone stabs him in his chest and crushes his heart. “I have just received a call… Johan… He woke up... He woke up and he escaped!”


	2. Chapter 2

“There it is…” Nina gently smiles at Dieter as she serves him the main course. It is potato gratin, one of his favorite meals. “I’m sure it won’t be as tasty as yours, but I did my best.”

Dieter doesn’t touch his food. He doesn’t even bother to take his fork. 

He’s not hungry.

It’s been two weeks. Two long, agonizing weeks, and they’ve got nothing: no news from the police, from Tenma, not even from Johan. Dieter has at least expected something. What? He doesn’t know exactly, maybe some dramatic letters from the criminal addressed to Nina or Tenma, or some information delivered by the police. 

But no. 

Nothing. 

Johan seems to have disappeared into thin air. 

And the boy doesn’t know if it’s a good or a bad sign. 

He is terrified, more than he thought he would be. Even though nothing bad has happened yet, he feels like he is trapped. It feels like a time bomb is hidden somewhere in their apartment, ready to explode in an instant. 

But the worst part of all of this, is Nina. 

As soon as she learned that Johan escaped, Dieter saw her face crumble. Her eyes widened and filled with tears, but none fell. She shook her head, and then she refused to talk, ignoring all Dieter’s desperate attempt to start a conversation. 

She rejected all Tenma’s phone calls as well, as she just… retreated into silence, staying locked in her bedroom for hours and hours. 

Dieter doesn’t know for how long it stayed that way, but then suddenly, one morning, she has just…decided to join him and started talking again. However, she carefully avoided to even mention her brother. 

Dieter is surprised by her current behavior, to say the least. Her being unable to talk about Johan has been painful to see, but at least it was understandable. It was a pretty normal reaction. 

But right now, it is unsettling, because nothing makes sense in her behavior. She acts as if nothing happened. She has resumed talking, and now she seems… like always. Sweet and cheerful. Casually smiling. 

Dieter doesn’t know what is worse, honestly. 

He respects her wish not to talk about it. He doesn’t want to corner her, but that doesn’t mean he likes it. 

And that joyful face she now displays with great care… It looks so real. Oh, she indeed knows how to pretend. Had Dieter not known about Johan’s escape, he would have never guessed that something was wrong. 

It is almost scary, how easily she can put her cheerful mask all over her features and make it look so honest. How manipulative she can be. Just like her brother. 

As soon as this thought crosses his mind, Dieter shakes his head and he corrects himself: Nina is not like Johan. She uses that cheerful mask to protect herself and save herself from a toxic brother, whereas Johan uses his abilities to dissimulate, earn people’s trust and stab them in the back. 

One of them doesn’t wish to do harm.

Dieter can’t take it anymore though. He has promised himself not to corner Nina, but he needs to talk, to share, to know what Nina is thinking, or else he’ll become crazy. “Nina, please…”

He doesn’t have to say much more. His broken voice is enough. And this time, her perfect expression cracks and falters. As their eyes meet, her fake smile slowly vanishes, and gloominess takes over. 

With a loud sigh, she buries her face inside her hands and she rubs it violently. As soon as she lets Dieter see her face again, she winces and apologizes. “I’m sorry, Dieter,” of course she is feeling guilty: she thinks that she abandoned Dieter, who needed her support. 

“That’s fine,” he means it: it is not her fault. She only does her best, like all of them. 

Nina takes a deep breath, and she asks, worry breaking through her tone. “Are you OK?” 

“No,” the boy doesn’t bother to lie or bring nuance. He is not OK. Not at all.

Nina is not surprised. She darkly nods, and she puts her plate aside, giving Dieter her full attention. She looks at him in the eye. “Alright. Talk to me,” her kind words have another meaning than just asking Dieter to confide in her. 

It means that she is ready to talk about Johan now. 

Dieter feels relief. He can finally share his thoughts and fears. He weakly smiles at her, and he starts to ponder. Where should he start? Simple. “I’m scared.”

Nina’s compassionate eyes tell him that she understands. He is not alone. It feels good to know it. She grabs one of the boy’s hands and she squeezes it. “Dieter…” her voice sounds so gentle. “I can’t promise you that everything will be OK. I’m as lost as everybody else right now…” he appreciates her honesty. “But I’ll say this; I’ll protect you. I’ll never let him hurt you. Never.”

Dieter knows it. He sees it in her eyes. Nina is determined, ready to fight her brother, if necessary, to protect her loved ones. She doesn’t want Johan to take her family away from her. 

Not again. 

Not when she has so much to lose. 

And that is what scares him the most, in fact. Nina is not up to it. Her brother is stronger than her, deadlier. “How can you…” Dieter purses his lips. “be so serene about all of this?”

“I’m not serene…” She sadly smiles, even though her fake calm expression tells him otherwise. 

He makes a face. “You look more serene than me!”

“Yes…” she blinks, looking down. She is ashamed. “I wish I was more surprised. Or… More horrified, but I guess that deep down… I knew this was going to happen. I knew a mere hospital wouldn’t hold Johan back.”

Dieter opens his mouth but he will never be able to answer, because the door suddenly opens. They both jump. It is weird because they have carefully locked their apartment up. There is only one person to whom they have given the key. And it’s…

“Tenma…!” Dieter squeals with joy.

The doctor is indeed standing at the doorstep, his hair messy and seeming out of breath, carrying a suitcase that he drops as Dieter runs towards him. They warmly hug, both happy to see each other again. 

Nina stands up, but she doesn’t dare to join them. She just watches them, uneasy. She is astonished, to say the least. She didn’t expect Tenma to come back. 

Wasn’t he supposed to be far away, for his overseas duties? 

It’s been a while since she last saw him. He hasn’t changed, not really. His hair are short again, and he is more muscular. He still has the same face, the same face that reflects his kindness and generosity. 

Tenma lets go of Dieter, and he looks at her.

“How… How?” She stammers. He doesn’t answer. She fears for one tiny second that he might be mad at her – as she ignored his phone calls – and might be about to scorn her, but her fears quickly vanish as he rushes towards her and embraces her.

Nina lets out a relieved laugh, as she puts her arms around him, savoring the hug. God, she has missed him so much. 

“It doesn’t matter,” he gently says near her ear. “I’m here.”

She bites her lower lip, and buries her face in his shoulder. She tries to hold back the tears threatening to pour down. “I’m sorry…” she whispers, so faintly that she thinks he might not even hear her. 

Sorry for ignoring him.

“It’s OK,” he breaks the hug and cups her face with his hands. “Are you OK?” He doesn’t let her answer. “Oh, Nina… I wished I could have come here to pay you a visit, and tell you how proud I am of you… To congratulate you for passing your exams, but...”

“I’m glad that you’re here,” she interrupts him with a sincere smile.

The first one she has in two weeks.

OoO

“Tenma…” Nina’s voice is timid, even though she knows the doctor won’t judge her or get mad because she is asking. “How was Johan the last time you payed him a visit?”

Tenma doesn’t answer right away, as he takes a sip of his tea. They are alone now, both sitting down on the sofa. It’s late, and Nina has patiently waited till Dieter went to bed before tackling the knotty issue of her brother on the run with Tenma.

“He was still sleeping, still in the coma. Or maybe pretending to be, I don’t know now… Nothing unusual. I had spoken to the doctors. They were saying that they didn’t know if he would ever wake up again.”

She nods. “He might still be recovering, somewhere…” 

Or he might be dead by now, her mind ads. Maybe he died because of his injury. He got shot twice in the head, for God’s sake. It’s hard to believe that he would just run away with no problem and be healthy. 

She surprises herself not to enjoy that thought. She doesn’t want her brother to die. She had naively believed that killing him or at least him being dead meant that she would finally be free, but it had been a foolish thought: she could never forget her brother or be free from him, even if he’s no longer living. 

“I need to ask you something,” she suddenly says, and her serious tone makes the doctor look up from his cup.

“What is it?” 

Nina purses her lips, nervously playing with a lock of hair. She takes a deep breath and she finally finds the courage to say it. “I want you to go with Dieter, and take him to safety… out of Johan’s reach,” it is hard to maintain eye contact.

Tenma’s face darkens. He doesn’t like what he’s hearing at all. “Do you think Johan would…?”

“I don’t know!” Nina frustratingly replies, her tone almost harsh. She sighs, and she forces her voice to soften up. She has no right to take it out on Tenma. “I mean… I don’t think he would try to hurt Dieter, but I’m not sure. He’s capable of anything, we both know that.” 

That’s the main problem of her brother, in fact. He’s unpredictable. 

She doesn’t know which path he might follow. 

Just for fun, he could burn down libraries, create chaos, drive people directly to suicide, kill, or play with his own life… His motivations are nonexistent as they change easily, and to break the monotony of life, he’s willing to do anything. 

He could choose to ignore her and her family, allowing her to live in peace, or he could come again, to torment her.

He’s creative. Too creative. Enough for her to consider every possibility. “His perfect suicide failed,” she carries on. “but that doesn’t mean he won’t try again. That is why I must protect Dieter,” and you, she thinks, but she doesn’t say that part out loud. 

Now, she has so much to lose, so much he could destroy. She is not going to let him. She has to fight. However, instead of chasing him and firing a dozen bullets at him, she must find another way. 

“What about you?” Tenma asks, and Nina answers right away, without thinking. “He won’t do anything to me.” 

That is the only thing she is certain of. He could damage her, destroy her, but he would never physically hurt her. Because he has no desire to kill her. 

“That’s not what I was asking,” the doctor frowns, and he sounds severe now. “I’m not leaving you, Nina. Come with us!”

“No,” she quickly shakes her head, but her voice remains calm. “I must stay here. Be visible. If he wants to see me again, he will find me anyway. It's better if I'm here, alone. He'll come eventually if he wants to, and then…”

“Then what?” he interrupts her, and his jaw clenches. He whispers. “Nina, you’re not going to… kill him, are you?”

He looks so afraid of the answer. Nina can’t help but soften up and smile at him. He fights so hard to save her soul, her humanity. To be sure that she will never kill anyone. She appreciates it. 

“No. I won’t… Tenma, I couldn’t promise you that before, but now I can,” she looks at him in the eye. “I promise you that I will never kill anyone. I will never kill Johan. I don't want to.” 

She is sincere: she has forgiven him. That has not been empty words. “I’ll just… have to find a way to distract him, somehow… To make sure he doesn’t hurt any of you.” 

God, she sounds ridiculous, even to her own ears. She has grown, but it seems like she is still naive after all. Johan is not someone who can be controlled. It’s almost impossible, and she is not manipulative. 

She is a prey. Not a hunter. 

Just a weak and vulnerable prey. 

She tends to forget that.

And Tenma knows that too. He remembers finding Nina on her knees, a gun pressed against her temple as she was overwhelmed by guilt and pain, ready to end her own life. He never wants her to go through that pain again.

He stands up, trying to dominate her and reason with her and he says as worry breaks through his frantic and alarmed voice. “That’s too dangerous, Nina! I can’t let you do that. You can’t fight him.”

“I know,” she lowers her gaze. Her voice is small all of a sudden. “But I can’t just twiddle my thumps…” 

“That’s not your fight!”

“Really?” She looks up at him and stands up as well to confront him, even though her voice sounds exhausted. “I’ve hunted him for so long, Tenma. I was so furious… but also… I wanted to kill him because I thought it was my duty to shoot him again. To end this!”

“And that was a mistake.”

“Yes, you're right,” she nods. She should have never shot him in the first place, in fact. He had needed her. The boy he used to be had needed her, and what did she do? She has shot him in the head and made things worse. She is not going to make the same mistake again. “But now, it's different. And I can’t just… forget about him and wait till he comes up and destroys everything I've built. I must prepare myself in case he comes back. And besides… he’s my responsibility.”

Tenma is surprised. He doesn’t expect Nina to say that, after everything. “Nina, he’s not…” 

“I asked you to save him,” she replies, frustrated. She is irritated as Tenma doesn’t seem to understand her. “I must face the consequences of my choice. I asked you to save him because those are your principles: seeing all lives as equal and sacred. I didn’t want Johan to take that away from you. But that’s not the only reason… I’ve…” she sighs. “I’ve recovered all my memories, Tenma, and… We… We used to be siblings. Real siblings. He protected me…”

Her voice changes. It’s subtle, but it is here. She sounds warm and nostalgic. It confirms what Tenma fears: she still cares about her brother, despite everything. She still feels something for him, for the little boy he has once been. 

That’s dangerous. 

That’s something Johan could use against her. 

“Nina…” he is careful. His voice is gentle. “I can’t contradict you for memories that I don’t have, and I know that he… I know that he cared about you.” 

Yes, he knew that. He remembers Johan’s broken voice on that recording, back when he was a child. Drugged. Questioned. Vulnerable. In 511 Kinderheim. 

What his biggest fear was. 

He had begged them not to make him forget her. 

Forget Anna. 

He had begged them, desperate, because he didn’t want Anna to be taken away from him. 

“But…” he continues. “Have you considered the fact that maybe… the little boy, who used to be your brother, is dead?” 

He is not wrong. Maybe nothing remains of the past Johan. Maybe it is too late now. “Perhaps…” she sadly says. “But he’s my brother. I can’t ignore him anymore, not when he’s free.”

Tenma looks at her for a moment, because he is considering her words, and then he shakes his head. “He's not your responsability. You’re just feeling guilty, that's the main reason...”

Nina looks down, and she doesn’t answer. Yes, she does feel guilty. She damaged him, as much as Poppe and 511 Kinderheim. Tenma has already told her multiple times that it was not her fault, that she was just a child, a terrified little girl, but it is hard for her to understand it.

She had been the only person Johan’s ever cared about, the only person who could have helped him. 

But she didn’t. She shot him in the head, and as he survived this, he lost the only connection that still tied him to the current world.

“Nina...” Tenma sounds exhausted too. “You owe him nothing.”

She presses her hands against her head. “When we were in the desert together, back when we were children…” she whispers. “I’m the one who collapsed first. I just couldn’t go on. I was so exhausted and… It was too hard. I was dying, but he… he still had some strength left. He could have gone on without me. He could have left me here and survived. But he didn’t. He stayed with me. He didn't abandon me, even if that meant his own death,” she swallows and as soon as she speaks again, her voice is firmer, clearer. “I can’t abandon him.”

In fact, she sounds far more confident than she actually feels deep inside. She is terrified, and she doesn’t know if she has the strength to confront her brother and play with him. She could lose everything, starting with her sanity. 

Yet, she has to. 

She sighs and she says. “I understand you don’t like that idea, I don’t either; But… It depends on what Johan will decide to do. If he never comes to see me, I’ll never try to join him. I’ll just live my life. But if he does come…” she blinks. “I must try. I must!”

“Try? Try to do what? Distract him? Control him? Save him?” Tenma’s tone shows how puzzled he is, and Nina can’t blame him. She ignores his intervention though. “And that is why I’m asking you to take Dieter,” she takes his hand and offers him her best puppy eyes. “Just in case... Please, Tenma…”

A weak smile forms on his face. He looks almost amused. “That doesn’t work.”

“For Dieter…”

The doctor is silent for a moment.

OK, that might work! Nina hopes that it does. Please… 

“OK…” he nods, obviously unwillingly. Nina doesn’t have the time to express her relief as he points a stern finger at her and continues. “Just a minute, I’m not done! I’ll take Dieter to safety, just in case. I’ll see what I can do for Eva and the others as well. Then, I’ll come back for you. I’m not letting you alone. That’s out of the question.”

Nina is not really happy with that, but she knows that Tenma is as stubborn as her. She won’t be able to make him change his mind. She is so grateful to have him. She finally has a family, people who would not let her down and fight for her.

Unlike her mother.

That is why she must fight for them as well. 

She nods, daring to be pleased. “Deal.”

OoO

Her apartment looks empty without Dieter and Tenma. Nina doesn’t like that, but she has to get used to it. She is the one who asked that, in fact.

It has been difficult to convince Dieter to leave her. A long and knotty conversation was needed, and their goodbyes have been hard. As if they both feared they would never see each other again.

Tenma and Dieter left the apartment six days ago. Tenma has promised her to come back here as soon as he could and as he has ordered her to, she sends him text messages regularly. To make him know that she is alright. 

In fact, nothing happened during those six days. She has just stayed at home, worked, cooked, and lived her life as usual.

However, today is different. Because she has decided to go out for a few minutes just to fetch bread and lettuce. She has left her apartment. A terrible mistake.

As soon as she comes back home and closes the door behind her, she realizes it has been a mistake. Because she is not alone. She feels… something. 

A presence. 

Her body tenses.

There is someone else in her apartment. She can feel it. 

It’s him.

He is nowhere to be seen, but Nina knows he is here. In her house, probably waiting for her to join him in the other room. The dining room. Oh, he knows she is back. He has probably heard the front door, but he doesn’t come near her. 

He waits.

He must wait to see if she joins him or tries to run away. To call the police. 

Her mind races and her heart beats fast. Her hands start trembling, and they clench in fists. It has been a mistake. All of this. All her determination seems to crumble. What a stupid plan it was. Her wish to control her brother, distract him to protect the people she cared about seems so stupid now. 

Even… try to save him, somehow.

She is so stupid. So naive. 

She should call the police. Yes, that is what she must do! Tenma is probably right. It is not her fight… As she takes her phone, she stops and shakes her head. No. The police is not the solution. He would leave the house before they arrive. 

The police can not help her dealing with Johan. 

She drops what she’s bought without a second thought, and she forces herself to take a deep breath. She thinks of Dieter and Tenma. She must pull herself together. Now! For them. 

And Johan can’t see her in such a state. 

She doesn’t know what he wants, what he is planning to do with her. God, why did he come back? Why can’t he just leave her alone?! 

Slowly, she calms herself. 

She can do it.

She takes a deep breath again, and she concentrates, trying to modify the expression on her face to dissimulate her terror and vulnerabilities. She tries to wear an unreadable mask – similar to his – and after a long pause, she nods and walks towards the door leading to the dining room.

She opens it and enters.

Yes, he is here. 

Johan. 

The simple view of her brother – a cruel and merciless criminal on the run – quietly standing in her dining room is so unsettling that it disarms her and she ends up speechless. It is so weird to see him near her, in her apartment. 

She is suddenly glad that Tenma and Dieter are not here, as he manages to find where she lives and breaks in her apartment. At least, he is there, with her, not with them. She just hopes he has not hired some men to do his dirty work elsewhere.

He is standing near the window, looking outside. He holds himself very upright, as usual, hands behind his back. His clothes are impeccable, black and elegant, highlighting his physical charms. His face reflects nothing, just a disturbing tranquility. 

His expression doesn’t even change as she carefully approaches him. As if he doesn’t even notice that she is here. She keeps a certain distance between them, though.

The only noticeable change is that he seems to have lost weight. He is slimmer than she remembers, and he looks paler. His cheeks has grown hollow. However, that does not mean he is not dangerous. He has never used physical strength to destroy his victims. 

Finally, his eyes stop looking through the window and they meet hers. She hates it, hates being the target of those piercing blue eyes. He even dares to smile at her. “Welcome home, Anna.” 

That voice… So measured and polite. Fake. 

And suddenly, as she is unable to react and start panicking again, the smile curving his lips become less subtle. Cruel. She can’t hide her terror. She can’t hide anything from him, it seems. 

He enjoys her terrified expression, and he openly shows it. 

What an asshole. 

“I’m sorry, Anna,” oh he is not sorry at all, and that makes Nina angry. So angry. A burning anger only him can cause. “I understand that it is hard for you to process, seeing me in your apartment, but it was the only solution I could think of.”

Solution? To what problem? What is he talking about?

“Nina,” she corrects him. She is surprised that she has managed to say a word, and she is relieved to notice that her voice sounds confident. It is not enough to fool her brother, but at least her voice doesn’t quiver. 

That’s a start.

“My name is Nina Fortner,” It sounds like a challenge. A threat. 

His expression doesn’t change. He just blinks, and he politely nods. “As you wish,” he seems to respect her choice. Good. She appreciates it. 

Now… She can’t retreat. 

Let’s play.


	3. Chapter 3

Let’s play… 

Nina forces her lips to form a sweet smile. “You know, you could’ve knocked, instead of breaking in… That’s what most people tend to do.” 

Johan tilts his head to the side, staring at her. She doesn’t know what that could possibly mean. Does this reaction show that he is surprised, or caught off guard by her cheerful behavior? Can she even surprise him?

It doesn’t matter. She has to welcome him properly. She has to play the cheerful sister. The one she used to be. 

She turns around and moves away from him. She doesn’t go far, as she just stops in front of the fridge, and opens it. “Do you want to drink something? I have squash, fruit juice… Or hot drinks if you want.”

There is a silence for a long moment, so long that she thinks he didn’t hear her or decided to ignore her question, but he ends up answering with his usual polite tone. “I would like a glass of water, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure!” 

Nina does her best, but she doesn’t like it. This conversation is so bizarre and uncomfortable. It feels so… fake. He probably doesn’t mind, as most of his life has always been a masquerade, but she hates pretending.

As she turns on the tap, and fills a glass with fresh water, she thinks. It doesn’t seem to her that Johan’s choice is trivial. After all, water is a liquid that doesn’t require taste. It’s just what humans must drink if they want to stay alive. 

It’s neutral. 

It reveals nothing about him, about his tastes. 

Does he even have taste? She sadly wonders. Does he have a favorite meal he enjoys eating from time to time? A favorite drink?

As the glass of water is ready, she turns around, and then she gasps. She almost jumps, and it’s a miracle that the glass is still in her hand and not dropped and broken on the floor. 

He is right in front of her, close. Too close. And she can’t take a step back as she is trapped between him and the tap. She hasn’t heard him move! 

She shouldn’t have turned her back on him. 

She really needs to improve.

And there it is, that amused and cruel smile on his lips. Does he really enjoy seeing her almost having a heart attack? He plays with her, like a toy. And he doesn’t even hide that fact. It’s offending.

She clears her throat and she hands him the glass. 

Her hand trembles. 

Damn it. 

“Thank you,” He takes it with a sweet smile, but he doesn’t drink. Instead, he just stares at her, and it’s much more uncomfortable this time, as he is so close to her. She feels exposed. 

“You were expecting me… You knew I would come here…” He suddenly says, and it is not a question. 

Nina purses her lips, as uneasiness begins to paralyze her thoughts. She feels trapped, and he is too close! “What makes you think that?”

He takes a sip of his glass of water, his eyes never leaving hers, and then he chuckles. He… chuckles. But it is not a lovely sound at all. It sounds more like a cruel jeering. “It is amusing to see you now, Nina. You’re playing the strong and nonchalant girl, but don’t bother. Sadly for you, your performance is rather poor.” 

OK, that hurts. She hasn’t expected him to attack that soon. 

Then, he slowly raises his hand, until his fingers reach a lock of her blond hair. He gently moves it away from her cheek, brushing her skin. Nina freezes. She can’t remember the last time her brother touched her. 

“You are terrified.” 

He is right, but she doesn’t know why he insists on that point. Maybe he likes reminding her who is in charge, or maybe he punishes her, given that she was stupid enough to think she could fool him.

“What is your point?” she manages to stammer. 

“Even though you are terrified, you are not surprised to see me here. You knew I would come.”

Finally, he offers some mercy: as he lets his hand fall, he takes a few steps back, letting her breathe. She appreciates it, although she hates it at the same time. 

She feels like he has absolute power over her. 

Johan slowly walks towards the sofa, and he just sits on it, facing her. “You even thought of a strategy to welcome me. Playing the cheerful sister…” his smile shows how amusing her try is. “A pathetic and useless strategy, but still one that required consideration. And besides, your house tells me a lot too.” 

As he says that, he looks around him as if he discovers the place now, but she is not fooled. He has already meticulously visited her apartment while she was not there. She knows it. 

“I see no pictures on furniture, which is suspicious because you’ve lived here for more than a year now… It’s clean as well. It’s too clean. Too empty.”

He looks at her. “You carefully hid your personal belongings. You decided to hide them from me.”

And she failed. 

Damn it. 

However, she doesn’t know if his words are supposed to be a reproach, or if Johan approves of her action. She decides to say nothing. It’s probably wiser. 

And Johan is talkative, much more than she has anticipated. “And when I say it is too empty, I’m not only talking about pictures… If my sources are correct, you are not living alone, Nina… And speaking of which, how is Dieter?”

His triumphant smile gives her the creeps. 

She stops breathing for a second. She feels those merciless words like a stab in the stomach. It is such a vicious attack, even for him. 

He has managed to disarm her and destroy her strategy in a matter of seconds. It is frightening.

He sighs, like a disappointed brother. “Did you really think you could hide something from me, Nina?” he offers her his best fake smile. So sweet. “Did you really think that hiding pictures would be enough? Your naivety has no limits.”

Nina glares at him, but it doesn’t affect him at all. However, something crosses her mind. He doesn’t know where Dieter is. He doesn’t know, otherwise he would’ve told her. Explicitly. To torment her. 

She is so relieved that it gives her strength. Hope. She has done it. Tenma has done it. She has been successful in protecting Dieter. He is stronger than her, but that doesn’t mean she can’t fight back and win some battles. 

It is her turn to attack now. 

“Are you mad because you’re predictable, brother?” she uses her usual kind tone, but her words are scornful. 

He smiles. He gets it. “Why would I be mad? I’m just curious, and somehow relieved… You anticipated for once. I admit that making that boy you consider a friend move away is smart.” 

He doesn’t let her react as he suddenly changes topics. “How did you know that I would come here?”

She is relieved that he is no longer talking about Dieter. It shows that he is not that interested in him. He has just mentioned him to play with her and tease her. Nothing more. 

Good. 

That doesn’t mean she wants to answer. “What brings you here, brother?”

Another cold chuckle. “Answering a question with another question can be efficient to distract your opponent,” he uses such a pedagogical tone, like she is a student and he is the teacher. “But it is not going to work with me,” he finishes, with a dry tone. 

Those words shape a threat. He tells her that she is not going to avoid a subject if he doesn’t want her to. 

Nina crosses her arms against her chest. That’s a gesture Johan knows very well. “Why does that interest you, anyway?”

“Tell me.”

Of course, he shares nothing about himself, that is not new, but it is obvious that he is interested in her. She doesn’t know if she has to be happy or terrified. Is that a good thing, a proof of his… affection, if such a word can be applied to him? Or on the contrary, is it the beginning of a cruel plan?

“Why would I share my thoughts with you?” she shrugs, even though she isn’t nonchalant and casual at all. She is affected. She can’t help it. “You’ve never shared anything with me. Why would I?”

“Let’s make a deal,” he suddenly declares, and Nina raises her eyebrows. She hasn’t expected that. “You tell me how you’ve figured out I would come back to see you, and in exchange, I answer your question. I tell you why I’m here.”

He seems so sincere… 

She shakes her head. “I’m not that naive, Johan. You would lie to me,” she can’t control her voice this time. She sounds harsh and accusatory. 

She shouldn’t do that. 

She should pretend not to care. 

She can’t, though. She wants so badly to scorn him for hours and hours, get everything off her chest. “That’s what you always do. You lie and lie again, and when you don’t lie, you hide. A little deal won’t change anything. You’ve always lied to me.”

It seems like he considers her words. He hasn’t expected such a bitter answer from her, probably. “That is correct… But I’ve also offered you my truest sincerity.” 

His voice sounds… gentle now, genuinely gentle. 

It is a very smart reply, because Nina can’t contradict him on that. Ironically, the moment he has been truly honest with her was when he lied, lied to himself. When he told her about the Red Rose Mansion. 

What he thought he had endured. 

He knows how to manipulate her. Because he wins. “OK…” she gives in. “I didn’t know for sure you would come back…”

She tiredly sighs, and she leans against the wall. However, as she continues, her voice becomes firmer. “There were three main possibilities, in fact. You wanted to die in Ruhenheim, so you could’ve just killed yourself the second you open your eyes and realize you survived. That would’ve been simple, but it’s not really logical, to me.”

“Why?” He smiles, like a teacher who assesses his student’s work. 

“Because you ran away from the hospital. Why bother running away if you just want to die again? You could’ve just thrown yourself out of the window, and everything would be over, but no. True, you could be planning something bigger for your suicide, but when you did that, in Ruhenheim, you had a clear objective: take revenge on Poppe. Bring hell. And be certain that no one would remember you, so that you can disappear. Truly disappear. A true end, that could only be done there…” 

She stops, and she offers him a gentle smile, trying to be comforting. She does it without thinking. She knows her brother wouldn’t do the same for her, but never mind.

He listens to her with great interest, never interrupting her. His expression stays cold, and it couldn’t be more disturbing: she is speaking of his suicide attempt, for God’s sake. 

He does not confirm anything, but the fact that he is silent helps her. Encourages her. “The second possibility is that you would disappear and I would never hear from you ever again.”

“But?” He says, and his expression is strange. It is as if he exults for some reason and tries to hide it, but fails. He looks interested, maybe because it is new for him; he usually analyzes and predicts people’s actions. 

He does not usually listen. 

She carries on. “But the thing is that you’ve already tried that: you’ve already tried to leave me and lie low, and we both know how it ended.”

It is subtle, but she sees that the little smile on his lips slowly disappear. Maybe it is just her imagination, but she could swear that he doesn’t really like when she talks about the Fortners’ murder. 

“You left me with my parents, letting me live my life for years. But you came back, eventually. You forced me to remember you. And you came back because I don’t think you can bear the idea of living alone, not when I’m here at your disposal. Because it's too boring. So it comes to the last possibility: that you come back, for whatever reason,” she points at him, him still sitting on the sofa. “And I guess I was right.”

“Why were you so sure that I would be the one to come? I could have sent someone…”

She has no idea why he finds that detail important, but she offers an answer anyway. In fact, she does her best to prove that she can be smart too, even though she doesn’t like what she is doing.

She has nothing to prove to him. She shouldn’t try to impress him!

“You could have,” she nods. “But first of all, you’ve been in the coma for months, and maybe you’re still recovering. My point is that you spent a lot of time unavailable, so I suppose that your criminal activities and your contacts have been weakened. And besides, you made sure that I would find you so we meet again, so it was certain that I would see you, not one of yours lackeys. You send men to do your dirty work. Not to accomplish what you selfishly want to do.”

That’s is. She has finished. 

Johan looks at her for a long moment, his blue eyes sparkling. Then, he smiles and he nods. “Very good, Nina.”

She controls her face this time, despite his praise. Her expression reveals nothing. “Now… Your turn.” her voice is cold. Good. “What brings you here?” 

He stays silent for a while, and he suddenly takes something out of his jacket. At first, she thinks he extracts a gun, but in fact, it is just a phone. A phone that has just vibrated. 

He has received a text. 

She frowns. 

He looks at the screen, reading the text message, and as soon as Nina believes that he will not answer, he gets up. His eyes have lost all their previous amusement. They’re serious now. 

“You want the truth? Very well, then. You’re in danger, Nina.”

She blinks. She has expected anything but that. She must look ridiculous: eyes wide, she gapes and stares at him without reacting. 

First of all, she thinks that he is lying. He could be, of course, but her instincts tell her that he is not. What would he make up such a boring lie? However, the alternative is not better. If Johan tells the truth, then she is in danger.

But why? Who threatens her? 

It turns her blood to ice. 

“… What?”

“Your life is threatened,” he calmly repeats, with no particular gentleness despite her terror. His lack of empathy is blatant. “That is why I’m here. I came here to convince you to come with me.”

She can’t believe it. 

“Come… With you?” 

“Yes,” he calmly nods. “As long as you’re with me, you’ll be safe. This is the only solution, until I resolve the problem.” 

“Who…” She swallows, as her throat is suddenly too dry. Her heart beats fast. She now has to worry about Johan and someone who wants her dead. Perfect. “Who’s after me?”

He approaches her. She has to struggle not to take a few steps back. “It doesn’t matter. We don’t have much time.”

He didn’t answer. It is bad. Really bad. That probably means that he doesn’t know who is after her, or that if he does, he doesn’t want her to know. 

And then, it is too much. Anger betrays her for the first time. “Oh, wait a minute!” 

She points a finger at his face. He doesn’t like that as his blue eyes turn much colder, but she doesn’t care. She is too angry to care, even if she perfectly knows he has killed for less. “It is because of you, right?” 

He doesn’t answer, so she guesses she has her answer. 

“Of course it is,” she hisses through clenched teeth. She glares at him, but he offers her a deadpan stare in return. 

She has to pay the price for her brother’s crimes. That’s so unfair. 

“What did you do, this time?” she harshly asks, clenching her fists. “Someone wants to kill me to get to you, right? To take revenge? Did you murder their son? Their mother? Or did you kill both, like the bastard you are?!” 

Oh, he doesn’t like that, but they both know he deserves her anger. 

“Careful, Nina,” his calm, but threatening voice tells her to shut up. She is playing with fire, now. It is the first time he is clearly threatening her, but she doesn’t care.

Anger gives bravery, after all. “Oh, that hurt your feelings, brother?” she is proud of her jeering voice. “You always ruin my life-”

Then, he interrupts her. It is such a rare action coming from him that it surprises her. “You’ll scorn me all you want later, but now, we don’t have time.”

“Let’s admit that I believe you. That someone wants to hurt me or kill me. Why would you come to protect me? Why would you care? Remember when you wanted me to join you in Ruhenheim? You didn’t care about my safety at all, and now as if by magic, you do? Can you just be less contradictory for once?”

“You’re so stupid. I’ve always protected you, Anna. You are just unaware of it,” He replies immediately, with a slight frown, as if he is offended by her words. 

She is surprised by that answer, so surprised that she doesn’t even correct him for using the wrong name. She purses her lips, and she decides to shut up and think. 

He stays quiet too, as he understands that she needs a moment to process what he’s just announced. He lets her ponder over the topic, and she appreciates it. 

OK, her life is in danger. Because of Johan. Now… What must she do?

It is true that Johan knows the criminal underworld better than anyone. He is probably the only person who can efficiently protect her. If she accepts though, she’ll have to rely on him. To trust him, in a way. She doesn’t know if she is capable of that.

However, his suggestion… helps her plan. She wanted him to be close to her. It’s the best if she wants to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t hurt Tenma or Dieter. 

And…That’s not all. 

Does he really want to save her? Protect her? Would he… care if she dies? 

She is curious. She wants to be with him. She wants to know if there is still something worth saving in him. If there is still the sweet little boy he used to be, somewhere. 

She wants to know for sure if there is still a brother who cares about his sister.

She will have to abandon her previous life though. Her job. Her friends. Her apartment. She has to pay the price. Is she ready to do that? “Where would I go if I follow you?”

He smiles. The answer is disappointing though. “If I tell you, that wouldn’t be a safe place…” 

“Right,” she nods. “And you’d stay with me…” 

He slightly frowns, probably a little bit confused by her words that hide a question, but he still answers. “Yes.”

OK. Good. 

She has decided, hoping she made the right choice. “Alright. I'll go with you.”

Something happens in Johan’s eyes. It flashes. It looks like… relief? It is so sudden and brief that she has no time to properly analyze it. 

He suddenly takes two guns out of his blazer, and he hands her one of them, offering her a cruel little smirk at the same time. She looks down. She stares at it with disgust, and she stays motionless. 

“Give me your hands,” he slowly says, and she shudders. Those are the same words he had said to her when he had ordered her to shoot him in the head.

“No,” she has a lump in her throat.

“You’ll need it, to protect yourself,” he replies, the disturbing smile still on his lips. He likes that, for some reason. “After all, you trained hard, Nina. You know how to aim.”

Only Johan could tease her about her training, a training she chose only to kill him. 

She goes up against him. “No,” she firmly refuses, confronting his eyes. “I’ll never use a gun again. Keep it.”

“That is ridiculous, sister.”

Sister?

“Why? You said that as long as I’m with you, I’ll be safe, right?” She shows a proud smile. A one that she hopes will annoy him. And she knows that he will hate having his own words being turned against him. “Then I don’t need a gun. Protect me.”

He looks at her for a moment. He doesn’t reply, which means that she wins, this time. He isn’t pleased, she can see that. 

“Fine…” he hisses, cold. He keeps only one gun in his hand, the other back in his blazer. “Whatever happens, stay behind me.”

What? Are they already there... ?

Without telling more, he gets around her and leaves the room. She blinks and she understands that she actually needs to follow him. They're leaving. She rushes to catch up with him, and as she joins him, he is just next to the front door. He throws her an annoyed look as she is standing in front of the door, and then he grabs her wrist, forcing her to move aside and stay behind him.

Which means that she only sees his back, now. 

He opens the front door. “Let’s move.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Are they already here?” This is the first question Nina gets to ask as soon as she and Johan go out of her apartment and walk through the corridor. Empty, fortunately. 

Johan doesn’t answer. His silence gets on her nerves. He has the gift to anger her whatever he does, anyway. And the current and stressful situation doesn’t help. “How many men are here to kill me?” She repeats, stubborn. 

They stop in front of the elevator. Johan raises his gun and clicks the safety off. She shudders. “Ten or so,” he answers. His voice is cold, almost casual. As if he is talking about the weather.

“Oh god…” Nina buries her face in her hands. This can’t be happening. 

Johan does nothing to comfort her. Instead, he takes a quick look at his phone, probably to read a new text message, and he pushes the elevator button. 

She frowns. “Why did you press the elevator button?” she can’t help but whisper. “We can just go down the stairs!”

“They took the stairs.”

He seems well informed. A part of her is impressed by his knowledge. The warmest part of her. Because it reminds her of the child he used to be: a know-it-all, an annoyingly smart brother, but a brother she deeply loved. 

She was so proud of him back then. 

“But what if they are also in the elevator?” she asks, and he finally looks at her. He nods at her, as if she has just made a point. “Oh, they are in the elevator, sister…” he smirks. 

She doesn’t have the time to react, because the elevator has just arrived. Its door opens. She holds her breath as Johan lowers his weapon. 

“They’re just not alive,” he finishes. 

What?

She approaches him, and cautiously, she takes a look inside the elevator. She comes face to face with two imposing men wearing a black suit. They both hold a gun with a silencer.

They nod at Johan, who just nods back. 

OK, they work for him. 

But Nina suddenly looks down and her eyes widened. Her hand covers her mouth. At their feet… She does not take a step back, but it still makes her stomach turn.

Five men are down, accumulated in the tiny elevator. Dead.

Probably killed by the two men still standing. 

Speaking of which, Johan steps aside as they both go out of the elevator, and without telling more, the two men walk towards the door that leads to the stairs. They probably have to neutralize the men taking the stairs now. 

They look so calm it is unsettling.

Johan chose them well, it seems. 

Nina frowns and she is about to ask what exactly is their plan, but Johan grabs her wrist again. His hold is gentler this time, which means that he is more serene. 

“Come on,” he enters the lift, stepping over the dead bodies as if they were mere potato sacks. He doesn’t even look at them. Or at the pool of blood slowly starting to form at his feet. 

“Johan…” she shakes her head, jaw clenched. Her body refuses to follow him. She can’t go in, not with those dead bodies! It’s too much!

He doesn’t listen to her complain. She is forced to enter the elevator with him, and the door closes behind her back. 

The elevator goes down.

She ends up very close to Johan, and without thinking about it, she nestles against him, grabbing his arm. She can’t help it. She needs physical contact right now. Comfort. 

She fears that he is going to be annoyed, mock her or even move away from her, but he doesn’t. He stays silent and motionless, instead focusing on the firearm he firmly holds and checking the munitions. He lets her nestle against him. 

She tries not to see the blood sullying the walls, tries to ignore the dead bodies at her feet. Her legs start to shake. Those men… They were here to kill her. It is hard to realize that without her brother, she would be dead by now. Assassinated in her own apartment. 

Killed by them, or by those taking the stairs.

She suddenly hates that elevator so much. She feels trapped and packed tightly. It’s hard to breathe. She wants to get out. Now! The Red Rose Mansion… Many people were dead…

No, she must not think of the Red Rose Mansion, not now!

Her hand contracts and she squeezes Johan’s arm. It must be painful for him. 

“Johan…” Her voice quivers and breaks. 

This makes Johan look up at her. She now has his attention, it seems. Too bad it is because she is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He acts immediately. He uses one of his hands to touch her chin, to make her look at him.

His face is… surprising, to say the least. His expression is not mocking. No teasing or cruel smile curve his lips. He does not seem to enjoy seeing her like that. “Breathe, Nina.” 

His calm voice helps her, and she forces herself to stay focused on his eyes instead of the dead bodies. She takes a deep breath. Those blue eyes. They’re so beautiful. They’re hers. They’re exactly the same. Well, not exactly. 

Johan’s are devoid of emotions and warmth. Unlike hers. Innocent. Full of life and hope. 

Finally, the elevator stops. They have arrived on the ground floor. He doesn’t let go of her face just yet. He carefully stares at her. “Better?” He asks, and he waits till she weakly nods to let go of her chin. 

“Good,” he raises his gun. A brutal way to remind her of the fact that her nightmare is not over. Johan seems to think that there might be other men outside waiting for her, in case those inside the building fail.

The door of the elevator opens, and there is no one. They are alone. Nina is relieved. So relieved. 

“Let’s move.” 

They both hurry, heading towards the exit. This time, Johan takes her hand. Not her wrist. Her hand. Just like when they were children, when they were running away together. 

His hand is soft and warm in hers.

They manage to go out, and Johan immediately knows where to go, it seems, as he guides her towards a narrow and isolated street, with no one to be seen. She sees that her brother keeps looking behind his shoulder, and it does not help to calm her down.

“Our driver will arrive here and take us both outside of the city,” He calmly explains to her. All right. They just have to look for Johan’s driver and get into the car. Easy. It’s almost over! 

Nina breathes easier. She is outside, no longer trapped in that bloody elevator. They seem to be alone now, out of danger… 

Sadly, it is too good to be true. 

She is the first to see him: a man, at the end of the street they have just taken, heading towards them. He walks too quickly. He points his gun at her. Determined. Ready to fire. 

No!

She doesn’t think. She grabs Johan’s blazer with surprising strength, and as she goes down, she forces him to follow. Bend down with her. 

They both crouch down and take shelter behind a parked car.

Nina has just saved her brother’s life. 

Because as the man rushes towards the car protecting the twins, he fires several shots. The bullets hit the car, one of them breaking the windscreen. 

Nina gasps. No, please, no. Not a shooting, innocent people could be hurt!

“Stay down!” Johan commands, and he looks at her for a second, making sure that Nina follows his order. She does, staying crouched down behind the car and protecting her head with her arms.

And then, Johan stands up, his arms out straight. He aims at their attacker. And he fires. Nina can almost hear the bullet whistling, and she clenches her jaw. The man manages to avoid Johan’s first shot, and they both shoot at each other for a few seconds. 

Then, Johan fires again. His shot is perfect, this time. Meticulous. Impossible to avoid. The bullet gets through the man’s neck, and he fires again, right through his chest. To finish him off. 

The man collapses. 

But Nina has no time to feel relief or horror because a man has just been killed in front of her, even though that man was sent to end her life. Because she suddenly hears a scream. A scream that does not come from Johan, from her nor from the man Johan has just neutralized. 

Someone is screaming. 

Alarmed, she raises her head to look over the car. And she sees him; a boy. Near them. In their street. Oh no, what is he doing in this street?! It seems to happen in slow motion: he cries out, collapses, and presses his hands against his thigh. 

Oh no… He has been wounded, by a stray bullet. 

Nina stands up, leaves the parked car that protected her and she runs towards him. 

“Anna!” That is Johan’s voice. She ignores him. That boy. He is wounded. Laying on the ground, crying out in pain. Sobbing. 

He is hit!

She rushes towards him, getting on her knees just in front of him. Blood… There is blood everywhere. The boy’s thigh. That’s where he has been wounded. Oh my god, the bullet got through his thigh. 

He is wearing a schoolbag, and it breaks her heart. He probably took this street to take a shortcut. Just going home after school. And now, he is hit. 

Because of her. 

What must she do? Okay, calm down. Breathe. 

That boy needs her.

The big problem is that he is bleeding. She needs to stop the bleeding. 

“It’s okay, kid!” she says, voice firm. She undoes her belt, and she is surprised to see that her hands don’t shake. The kid keeps crying, but his big, teary and wide eyes look up at her, seeing her as his only hope. 

“It’s okay…” she does her best to sound comforting. “Everything is going to be fine! I promise. What is your name?”

His face is deadly pale, and he struggles to look at her. He is ready to pass out, but she can’t let that happen. She needs him to stay awake. Make him talk.

“D… Da…mien!” The kid stammers through his sobs, and she just nods, bringing the belt near his thigh. The entire body of the boy trembles, out of shock and pain.

“Hello Damien... I’m Nina. Nina Fortner.” 

“It… It hurts!” He sobs, and her heart breaks. 

“Listen to me,” she says. She offers him the warmest smile she can afford. “I’m not a doctor, but a good friend of mine is. He taught me a few things!” she takes her belt, wraps it around the kid’s thigh just above the bleeding wound, and she squeezes. Tightens. Hard.

She must squeeze hard, to stop the bleeding. 

She will have to thank Tenma for having taught her that device the next time she sees him. A tourniquet. 

The kid groans in pain. Yes, it is painful. “Breathe,” she gently says, and she sees that he tries to follow her order. Good. “You’re doing well, kid. I’m impressed.”

“Nina.”

She almost jumps. It is Johan’s voice. Cautious. She has almost forgotten that he was here. “Nina, the car has just arrived. We need to go.” 

She doesn’t listen to him. “Johan, quick! Dial 911!” She takes off her jacket and covers Damien’s cold and trembling body with it. The boy has just passed out. That's not good!

“Nina, we-”

“Shut up and do it!” She yells, glaring up at him. She is probably the only person lucky enough to speak to Johan like that and survive. 

She doesn’t care. A little boy needs her help. He is badly injured. And it is her fault. She is not going to leave and abandon him! She has to make sure he will be fine!

Johan doesn’t move for a time, just looking down at her, so Nina loses interest in him. She looks at the kid again instead, and his injury. She doesn’t hear that the driver – the one supposed to take them to safety – quickly joins her brother and says to him. “We need to go. More are on the way.” 

His voice sounds urgent. 

She doesn’t hear him. She doesn’t even hear that her brother comes closer to her. She has turned her back to him again. A terrible mistake. But she only realizes it when she feels it. A quick and painful jab. Someone has just jabbed her with something. A syringe. Piercing the skin of her neck. 

She understands.

“No!” She protests, and she tries to struggle, to get the syringe out of her neck, but it is too late.

“You left me no choice, sister…” Johan whispers in her ear. It almost sounds like an apology. He has drugged her, and it is pretty efficient; the world immediately starts spinning, and her body feels numb and weak. She loses her balance, but her brother easily catches her before she falls, wrapping his arms around her. 

She tries to break free and even use martial arts on him, but she can’t.

It is very difficult to concentrate, all of a sudden. Her eyelids are heavy. Her vision is blurry. She… She wants to sleep. She feels so sleepy... No, Damien! She can’t let him! 

“No…”

“Shh…” he gently hushes her. And then, her eyes roll back in her head and she loses consciousness 

OoO

As soon as Nina opens her eyes again, she wishes she has stayed unconscious. The vivid light immediately attacks her eyes. So she closes them again with a weak groan. 

Yes, it is better to keep her eyes close for now. 

She feels dizzy. So dizzy and disoriented, and tired. She has never felt something like that. She is sure that if she moves her head, she will throw up. It is also very difficult to concentrate with such a slow and foggy mind. 

What is happening? Where is she?

Focus. First. Your body. What do you feel? She is not cold. That’s a start. She is not in pain either. Good. She is laying on her back, on a bed. Covered by a warm cover. With a cushion behind her head. Yes, she can feel them. 

OK. Now, move! She tries to wiggle her fingers and move her arms, but she is not successful. Her body feels stiff and sore. It is not that she is tied up. She is just too tired. 

She starts to panic. She is a weak prey, unable to defend herself. 

What is going to happen if someone attacks her and hurts her? 

Wait… Attack her? Why would someone attack her? 

Then, she gets it. Little by little, everything comes back to her; Johan, the elevator, the shooting, the boy badly injured, her rushing towards him and… and… the syringe. 

Not really painful, just quick and vicious. 

Johan, you bastard!

He has drugged her. He attacked behind her back like the bloody snake he is. Because he knew he couldn’t fight her. 

“You’re finally awake,” She knows that voice. Calm and smooth. 

Johan’s. 

He is here, judging by the sound of his voice. Very close to her, probably at her bedside. She would like to see him, glare at him and yell at him, calling him all sort of names. Even get up and slap him. 

But she can’t. 

She just moans. 

She then hears the sound of something being scraped, probably Johan getting up from his chair. Has he really stayed here, at her bedside, watching her sleep? Keeping an eye on her? For how long? 

Her heart beats fast. Even though she can’t see him now, she knows he is standing near her, dominating her. His presence is overwhelming. It is the first time that she has felt that vulnerable near him. She really is powerless, at his mercy. He can do anything to her. 

Instead of hurting her, she hears his slow footsteps. OK, he is walking away from her, and… it sounds nice. At least, this is something familiar, something she can recognize. Then, she hears another noise. What is it? It sounds like… he closes the blinds. 

She is not sure. 

She can’t focus!

“You can open your eyes.” 

She doesn’t even think. She trusts him, and she opens them. And she sighs, relieved. This time, she can see. The room is darker, even though she can still distinguish the furniture as shy sun rays pass through the curtains. 

She squints, trying to see around her, but her vision comes blurry and unfocused. It… It looks like a bedroom. A bedroom she doesn’t know. 

A luxurious bedroom, in fact.

Where is she?

Then, she sees him. Johan. His beautiful, unreadable face right above hers. He stands very close, probably to let her see him clearly. 

“Being drugged is not nice...” he smiles at her and it is obvious that he is amused by her angry eyes. “You’ll feel better in a few hours.”

Of course, he knows what it is like to be drugged… 511 Kinderheim. How many times did he feel the way she feels now? What had been done to him while he was in such a state, vulnerable and weak? Did someone wait for him to recover? Take care of him? Stay at his bedside?

Of course not.

“The…” she stammers, her voice not above a whisper. She needs time to express what she wants to say. “The… the boy…” Damien. She can’t stop thinking about him. What happened to him? She fears the answer.

The smile on his lips drops away, and it looks like a grimace now. “Really? You’re thinking of that child?” His voice shows clear disdain. 

“Please…”

She must look so pathetic, begging him like that. She knows it won’t work with him, but she is desperate, and her being drugged doesn’t help. 

He shakes his head, not tenderized at all. “You’re so stupid, Nina,” his voice is so severe, so cold. “You risked your life for a child you don’t even know. Your kindness will be your downfall.”

He carries on. “You are safe by the way. Just in case you want to worry about yourself for once,” Nina could swear that he sounds… frustrated? Could he be upset because she put her life at risk? No way. 

“He…” without realizing it, hot tears begin running down her cheeks. She doesn’t even know why she is crying. “Damien… He was bleeding. Where… Where is he? Did you… Did you leave him alone?!” She sobs. 

Johan raises an eyebrow. That’s a rare action coming from him. He doesn’t smile though. “Yes, I did.” 

It feels like a punch in the stomach. It’s not possible. He can’t do that! He can’t let an innocent boy bleeding to death without calling 911… She is stupid to think that. He is a murderer, a murderer who killed countless people without even a second thought, including little children. 

Of course he could just leave him there. 

“No…” Damien can’t die! It’s her fault if he dies!

“Oh, there it is…” he sniggers. How can he be so cruel? “Let me guess, you believe that all that happened today is your fault. That this boy’s injury is on you… It is not, so stop,” it is both harsh and comforting. She guesses a monster can be comforting, sometimes. “And besides… he is fine. Alive.”

“How… How do you know that?” 

He doesn’t answer, and by the look on his face, she knows he will stay silent. Out of frustration, she glares at him, but that just seems to amuse him, as he displays his best smile.

He moves away from her, and goes back near the window, hands behind his back. He often does that: standing in front of the window . Or in front of the curtains, right now. Turning his back to everybody. 

She blinks. “I… I need my phone…” Why does she say that?

“I’ve destroyed it.”

Of course, before that, he used her phone to write down the numbers of Dr. Tenma, and the little Dieter, but he doesn’t share that detail. He also read all the text messages she has sent. 

That was very interesting, indeed.

“I need my phone,” she weakly repeats, tears still running down her cheeks. “I… I need to send a text message to… Tenma… To tell him that I’m alright.” 

“Ah… That dear Dr. Tenma…” He smirks, cruel. 

He doesn’t say more. He could continue, ask her more questions. He could force her to tell him everything he wants. Her foggy mind wouldn't be able to resist him. Yet, something stops him. What is it? Why doesn’t he continue? 

“Johan…” she suddenly whispers. “I’m sorry… I’m so… so sorry,” she doesn’t know why she decides to bring that up now, but her disoriented mind doesn’t seem to be logical right now. She has to say it! 

Johan hasn’t expected that, obviously, as she goes from one subject to another. He turns towards her. “You are sorry?” he frowns, confused. 

“Yes,” Nina sobs. “For everything… I… I shouldn't have shot you.”

Silence. She tries to raise her head to look at him, see his face, but first of all, it is difficult to see as her tears make her vision blurry, but also because he moves his head away and avoid her eyes. She would give anything to see his expression right now, or to read his mind. Know what he is thinking. 

Then, he replies, and it is the coldest answer he could have given. “Don’t be. You did the right thing. A pity I was saved.”

“No…” He is wrong. So wrong. 

Suddenly, he approaches her again, and she feels a hand covering her forehead. That shuts her up. It’s Johan’s hand. Smooth and warm. It is so… gentle and reassuring. This is what Johan used to do when she would be crying, or waking up after a nightmare. To comfort her and make her feel better. 

Back when they were children. 

She misses it, so badly. 

“Go back to sleep, sister,” he whispers, and his voice is so gentle. The softest caress. This time, he truly sounds like a brother. 

And Nina can't help it. She is too tired and weak. She obeys him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next; Tenma comes back :)


	5. Chapter 5

Johan is looking down at Nina, a little smile frozen on his lips. He doesn’t know why he stays in her bedroom, watching her. After all, she is sleeping soundly, so she is not going to interact with him. 

He isn’t pleased by his own behavior. He shouldn’t stay. He has no time to spare. And besides, she is fine. She just needs to rest a bit more, that’s all. He has already checked multiple times her neck and the dressing he has just put with his most obsessive meticulousness.

He has no reason to stay here, but he can’t help it.

The peaceful image of her, sleeping, reminds him of a past he is trying to forget and erase. And paradoxically, it is a past he misses. A little bit. It’s weak and shy, but it is here. A remaining weakness. 

A remaining weakness that reawakens because of her presence. 

He has always loved watching her sleep. He has been insomniac for a long time. As far as he can remember, he has always been. Especially after Kinderheim 511. The things they have done to him… It had been impossible for him to relax in his bed, close his eyes and let sleepiness invade him and take over. Like her. 

And he needed to be on the lookout to be sure that they were no longer pursued by the monster, so that didn’t help. 

He was lucky back then, when they were Johan and Anna Liebert: he could sleep in the same bedroom as hers. He wouldn’t sleep a wink, so watching her sleep would be the only thing he could do to distract himself. It was a ritual. 

Every night, he would close his eyes and pretend to be asleep. He would carefully listen to Anna’s calm and steady breathing in order to know when she would fall asleep. And then, he would sit up straight, and he would look at her. All night. 

It was a habit that never bothered him, in fact. He had watched her with great interest, like an excited child in front of his favorite animated film. 

It is still fascinating to watch her sleep, today. That hasn’t changed. The way the features of her beautiful face twist, and then relax. The way her lips weakly move, or partially open. The way she is peaceful in her sleep, safe in her own world.

He has quickly noticed that she speaks when she sleeps, quite frequently. And she is doing it now. It is not a coherent speaking at all. Just vague whispers and weak mutters. 

It has always amused him. 

But it goes deeper than that: her murmurs had calmed him down during the night, when he was a child. They used to smooth his fears, and make him understand that he was with her, and no longer in that orphanage. 

He was no longer separated from her. 

It was like a lullaby. Sometimes, by listening to her muddled whispers, he was capable of lying down, closing his eyes, and dozing. Just for two or three hours. Thanks to her. 

She doesn’t know: she doesn’t know the power she has over him. The stability she has always offered him. Her mere presence makes his life bearable and melts his paranoia. 

Also, she has always known how to deal with him, which is not easy. Even back when she was a little girl, she was smart. Smart enough to know when Johan was not fine. Troubled. And she was smart enough to know how to behave.

He remembers one specific day. They were supposed to go out, with the Lieberts. Go out to… go shopping? Go to the park? He can’t quite remember. The only thing he is sure of is that he had refused to go with them. Because being outside in the middle of people, it was hard for him. He has always had difficulties with social interaction, and that had worsened after he left the orphanage. 

Even today, he can only endure social interaction in small amount. And use it as a tool.

Anna had joined him that day, and she saw that something was wrong. He had said to her that he didn’t want to go, but he had insisted on the fact that she should enjoy herself and go. She had asked him if he was alright, and if he wanted to talk to her.

He hadn’t answered, instead lowering his head, but it was enough for Anna. It was enough for her to understand that he didn’t want her to insist. He didn’t want to talk. Out of kindness, she didn’t get mad at him, and she didn’t insist or pressure him.

He could see she didn’t like it, but she still respected his choice. And that day, the only thing she did was staying with him. She had refused to go too, despite the Lieberts’ protests. And she had stayed next to him, smiling at him and sometimes playing with a lock of his hair. 

It was enough. 

That is one of the reasons why he has offered her his trust. Unreserved. Unconditional. Because she has never forced him. Because she has never been cruel or mean. He knows she will never be. 

Nina is kind because it is who she is: she wants to be good, expecting no reward. Even now. 

Nina is a force to be reckoned with, when she is pushed over the edge. She can be dangerous and deadly, Johan knows it and the criminal underworld knows it too. Her rage and her strength have frightened criminals, after all. The Baby. Roberto. 

He will never underestimate her. However, she is not cruel, contrary to him. She attacks only if she is attacked. 

When she hunted him down, out of rage, he had not been pleased by her carelessness, but he had never blamed her. How could he? Who wouldn’t do the same? He has murdered her parents.

But even when she was pushed over the edge, she resisted. She didn’t let her rage and grief completely change her and turn her into a monster. She has been kind, merciful. Too weak. Or too strong. It depends on people’s viewpoint. 

She refused to murder him. 

Her words of forgiveness are etched into his memory. He had been stunned, to say the least. How could she? How could she forgive him, after everything he has done to her? He doesn’t deserve her kindness. 

That gentle smile she offered him, when she was talking about his suicide attempt... He doesn’t know why this image comes back over and over, but he can’t stop thinking about it. That kind smile of hers, it had been spontaneous. It had not been a calculated move. 

Mostly because she doesn’t know how to properly manipulate, but also because she smiled at him to comfort him, to be sure that he was fine with her mentioning his suicide attempt. How can she behave like that?

It is a mystery for him. She can be so unpredictable. Fascinating. 

In fact, Johan sees the world around him as boring, tasteless and insipid. Everything has the same color, the same taste, and the same texture. His tedious life, he has to endure it. He is doomed to endure it, without living it truly. 

But she is different. She has always been. She… she shines. She is also a part of himself, the warmest part of himself. The only part that matters. His sanity. His real life. A vivid reality surrounded by the most precious flowers. 

Lots of her decisions don’t make sense to him, and as he doesn’t understand, he is curious, intrigued. He wants to understand her. He wants to understand his other self.

Johan blinks, and he shakes his head. He has to go now. He silently walks away towards the exit.

He has a phone call to make. 

OoO

Dr. Tenma hasn’t expected that. 

That’s putting it mildly. 

He has expected to see Nina. Yes, that is what he has planned. He has looked forward to seeing her again and telling her that Dieter is safe, as he has promised. 

He has planned to reassure her, to make her smile even, and then to see how they could deal with her brother on the run.

However, he hasn’t expected to be stopped by two police officers getting in his way and preventing him from approaching the residence. He hasn’t expected to see, all around Nina’s residence, emergency workers, ambulances, and forensic science. 

What is happening here?

It takes time for him to realize that one of the police officers holding him back is talking to him, as he is unable to take his eyes off Nina’s residence. The deafening sirens make his words even harder to grasp. 

He sees the police officer’s lips move, but the words do not reach his ears. 

Maybe he is telling him to move back. 

Tenma doesn’t move, though. He doesn’t even feel the police officers’ hands on him. His heart beats fast, and a consuming panic starts to overwhelm his senses and squeeze his stomach. 

He mumbles. “Nina…”

He starts to look for her with his eyes, alarmed. He can see from where he is that the inhabitants are being evacuated and gathered to a side, lots of them sobbing, despite the police officers’ and emergency doctors’ presence.

None of them seem physically hurt, but they look shocked, Tenma can easily see it. The are nestling against each other, trembling, despite the blanket covering their shoulders. Those who aren’t crying are on the verge of bursting into tears, while others have a vacant look on their face.

One little girl is well away from the group, sitting on the ground near one ambulance. She is surrounded by doctors trying to talk to her, it seems. She is hunched up with her head down, hugging herself. Her hair hides her face, but Tenma can understand that she doesn’t see the world around her. 

She reminds Tenma of Nina, well of Anna, back when she was a little girl. When she arrived in the hospital, that rainy night. Shocked, traumatized. Because she had shot her own brother. 

What did this poor girl see? 

The neurosurgeon looks at the group again, and there is no sign of Nina. 

The police officer becomes more insistent. “Sir! You have to move back, now! This is a crime scene!”

A crime scene?

Tenma finally goes out of his fit of terror, and he grabs the police officer’s arms more violently than necessary. “I know someone living in this residence. Nina Fortner!” 

They suddenly let go of him, and that gives him hope. Good, maybe they will listen to him. 

“Please!” Tenma tries to catch his breath. Rambling would be useless now. He needs to calm down. He forces himself to reorganize his thoughts, and when he speaks again, he is calmer. “She is a blond, young woman… She is living here, third floor!” 

He quickly pulls his phone out of his pocket, and he displays one of the few pictures he has saved of Nina. His hands tremble. “It’s her! Have you seen her?!” 

The police officer takes his phone and he looks down at the picture for a moment. A long moment, frowning. His face darkens and as he looks up, he shakes his head, and he has to see Tenma’s face crumble. 

He shares an anxious look with his colleague, who just walks away without a word. That makes Tenma’s heart skip a beat. It does not look good, at all. 

“I have not seen her…” the one who stays with the doctor says. “The only inhabitants that have been rescued are here… We have just finished evacuating the residence. If she was there, she would have been gathered with the rest, here.”

That is exactly what Tenma fears. God, where is she? What happened? Has someone been found dead?

“But I don’t see her! She is not there!” he persists, rather pointlessly in fact. He takes his phone back, well he actually snatches it out of the police officer’s hands, and he tries to call her. “Please, answer…” he whispers, closing his eyes. 

Nothing.

“I can’t reach her…” his voice breaks, and he uses one of his hands to rub his face. This can’t be happening…

“Look, Sir,” the police officer seems as lost as him. Powerless. “Maybe she was out? Maybe she decided to spend time with some friends?”

Tenma firmly shakes his head. He has a bad feeling about this. “No, she would have told me, and she would have answered the phone…”

The policeman nods, grave. He sighs. He seems so exhausted. “I need you to follow my colleague. You have to go to the nearest police station… We need you to record her as a missing person to start a search operation, if necessary. I’m sorry, I don’t know much more than you do for now,” the police officer stops talking for a second, as if he has just decided to share a specific information with Tenma. “Look, I’m not supposed to tell you that… But, if this can reassure you, we have found only men…” 

Dr. Tenma frowns. “Only men…?”

The policeman purses his lips, clearly uneasy, but he ends up nodding. Grave. “In the residence. Dead bodies,” Tenma’s eyes widen. “Eleven. All dead.”

“Dead bodies…” the doctor whispers, gaping. Oh my god, no!

The policeman turns a bit and he points at the little girl near the ambulance Tenma has glimpsed earlier. “This little girl… She is the one who discovered the bodies in the elevator… Five bodies,” he shakes his head. “Poor kid.”

Tenma is as disgusted as him. He has a knot in his stomach. 

He opens his mouth to reply, but something in his field of vision draws his attention and it stops him. He turns his head, and he notices that there are also policemen and doctors in a street nearby. It is narrow and isolated, but Tenma can see that a few stretcher-bearers are there, and they are stretchering someone off. 

They quickly walk towards Tenma as they intend to get into the closest ambulance. Tenma has to squint, but he sees him. A kid. A kid moved on the stretcher. He seems unconscious, and in a bad way.

Tenma points at him, worried. “And that kid?!”

“There was a shooting,” the police man answers, turning his head to look at the stretcher. “One man down. And… an injured boy, probably hit by a stray bullet. Sir, I’m gonna ask you to move back and let us to our work, you need to go to the pol-”

“One jacket! Covering the boy’s body! It is not his!” A sudden voice interrupts him, and they both look at the man who has just intervened. That is one of the stretcher-bearers. He is holding in his gloved hands a jacket, a red jacket, indeed too big to fit the boy. He wraps the jacket around... Something, probably to protect it for the police forensic department. 

Tenma holds his breath. He knows that jacket. That’s Nina’s.

That’s Nina’s!

He doesn’t even realize that his legs move. He gets around the policeman, avoids his arm trying to hold him back without even looking at it, and he rushes towards the stretcher-bearer. She was there! Nina was there! 

“I know that jacket! ” Tenma shouts. The stretcher-bearer jumps and he stares wide-eyed at him, as if he is seeing a maniac. Tenma’s lungs burn when he arrives at his level, but it doesn't prevent him from talking. “I know that jacket! That’s… That’s Nina Fortner’s!”

“Sir... What are you doing here?!”

Tenma ignores him. He doesn’t even realize that the policeman has followed him and is now talking to the stretcher-bearer. 

The doctor approaches the stretcher and he looks down at the kid. He can see him clearly now, and his breath is stuck in his throat. The boy is so young… He is unconscious, and he is deadly pale. An oxygen mask covers half of his tiny face, and as Tenma looks down, he sees the boy’s thigh. He winces. It is bloody. Some emergency workers hasten around the bullet wound, trying to limit the bleeding. 

But that is not all. Tenma frowns when he sees a belt. A belt wrapped around the boy’s thigh, just above the wound. A belt the emergency workers carefully handle.

That’s her belt. That’s Nina’s. Everything starts to make sense. She… She was there in that street, during the shooting. For some reason. And she has wrapped her belt around the boy’s thigh. To restrict circulation. 

A tourniquet. Just like he has taught her. 

And she covered him with her jacket, to warm the boy up. He is so proud of her. But quickly, panic and fear take over. Where is she now? What happened? 

This time, he doesn’t resist when three policemen circle him and force him to take a few steps back. They make him follow them. The doctor gets into a car, not without looking back at the kid one last time over his shoulder. He sees that the kid is now inside the ambulance. He has to trust the surgeons now... Please, be fine! 

They drive Tenma to the nearest police station. The drive is quick and quiet, but it seems to the doctor that it never ends. He keeps looking at his phone, ignoring the stifling and strained silence inside the car. Please, Nina… Give me something, anything. Call me.

He then enters the police station, and he is guided towards the waiting room. One of the policemen gives him a chair, and he forces a glass of water into his hand. He has been forced to sit down on the chair, to prevent him from pacing up and down. 

They say to him that they will come back soon. He pays no attention to them.

Now alone, the adrenaline rush he has just experienced fades away. He is left alone, haggard. He forces himself to take a sip of his glass of water, and then he buries his face in his hands and he takes a deep breath. A trembling breath. 

He is staring at his phone with desperate eyes, as if this mere object is going to offer him the answer he deeply looks for. But it doesn’t. It doesn’t ring. It doesn’t vibrate. It just stays silent. 

Where is she? What happened? Who were those guys who died? Who killed them? And why?

He can’t lose her. Not her. What is he going to do if he loses her? What is he going to say to Dieter? He can’t… 

Suddenly, his phone rings. He almost jumps, and he doesn’t even look at the number displayed on the screen. He picks up, presses his phone against his ear, and his quivering lips open. He is about to speak, but a voice beats him to it.

“Hello, Dr. Tenma… It’s been a while.” 

That voice immediately turns Tenma’s blood to ice. It seems to him that his whole world crumbles and falls into ruin. He knows who it is. He could recognize that cold and measured voice anywhere. 

Johan. 

And it makes sense, now. He has the missing link: Johan is behind all of this. How could he have not thought of this? He is so stupid. His panic blinded him. Anger suddenly burns his stomach. 

He gets up from his chair, making it tipple over.

“Where is Nina?!” he hisses through clenched teeth, harsh. He keeps his voice down, and he doesn’t know why. He should rush towards the nearest police officer, telling him that he probably has Nina’s kidnapper on the phone. Telling him that one of the most feared and wanted criminal of all time is calling him. 

But he doesn’t. He stays where he is. He even looks around him, to make sure that he is alone. 

“She is with me,” Johan’s voice is as smooth as ever, as if he hasn’t noticed Tenma’s rage. He has. Of course, he has. He just chooses to ignore it. It only makes the doctor more furious.

“I want to speak to her.”

Johan lets out a lovely chuckle. “Sadly, your wish cannot be granted. She is… unavailable for now,” he is playing with him, with his usual monotonous and slow voice. Even if he could be saying the truth, he is still playing. 

He perfectly knows that Tenma is worried to death, but he still makes him wait. 

“What have you done to her?!” the doctor snaps, and his breathing quickens. He feels that his nerves are about to snap. 

“Nothing.” 

The doctor’s aggressive tone doesn’t shake Johan. He sounds as calm as ever. 

As furious as Tenma is, he believes him. He knows deep down that Johan would not physically hurt his sister. They share a strange bond, a strange bond that Tenma can’t really understand. 

“She is resting,” Johan continues. 

“She is not hurt, right?” Tenma’s voice quivers. It has lost all its previous anger. And finally, Johan clearly answers. “No. She is fine.”

The neurosurgeon nods, but he does not allow himself to relax. He nervously looks around him to check if someone is listening, but there is no one to be seen. He is still alone, for now. Good.

At least, Nina is fine. Well, those are strong words if we take a look at the current situation. Her residence has been attacked for some reason, and now she is stuck with her twin brother, a dangerous criminal on the run. 

She must be cut off from the rest of the world.

How can she be fine? 

“What happened?” Tenma hastens to ask. “Who were those guys? Why were they at Nina’s residence? And why are they dead?”

“They were at my sister’s residence because they were after her. And if they died, well… It is because they were after her,” This time, Johan’s voice changes. It is subtle, as he actually does not raise his voice, but he doesn’t need to. He sounds harsh. 

Tenma is not surprised.

He knows that Johan feels, despite his cruelty and the cold face he displays to the world. Even if he doesn’t feel things the way other people do. He feels. And now, Johan is furious. 

“They were… after Nina?” the doctor stammers, and he knows that paraphrasing Johan will not please the young man.

“Don’t be so surprised…”

There it is: Johan sounds like an annoyed teacher sermonizing a bright but inattentive student. “This is nothing new, doctor. She is the easiest target for someone who wants to get to me. And she is too vulnerable… I’ll have to change that.”

Tenma hates that last sentence. Nina must not be influenced by her brother. He is not going to let that happen. However, for now, he needs to understand what happened. “So, they were here to hurt Nina, to get to you. Were… were you at the residence too? Why were you there?”

“I was just protecting my sister, doctor, like I’ve always done.” 

“How so?”

He can hear Johan sigh on the line, probably because he has to explain and it’s boring. “I managed to keep her safe for years by erasing her existence, by making sure that no one would find out the link between us. However, it changed as soon as she decided to chase me. It was distracting, I won’t say otherwise, but it was also very careless. So careless…” 

It is disturbing to hear Johan’s voice sounding so casual, almost amused, whereas he is basically talking about his sister wanting to murder him. It just doesn’t feel right. Has he really enjoyed it? That chase? Nina’s hatred? 

Probably…

“Coming into the criminal underworld has a cost, and she drew attention,” he carries on. “Her rage, her strength, her beauty… Or course, she drew attention,” Tenma’s jaw clenches. “But she put her life at risk. So, to protect her, I revealed who she was.”

“Why?” Tenma knows that he sounds stupid, but Johan seems like he doesn’t mind answering his questions, so he takes advantage of the opportunity to make him talk a bit more. 

“Because I’m feared,” he simply answers, and Tenma can’t contradict him on that. “I knew that no one would dare to anger me. And her identity would have been discovered sooner or later, as she hunted me down and got herself into a real mess. That is why I revealed who she was, and I made myself very clear… I was clear on the fact that I will not tolerate her being hurt or killed…” 

Tenma purses his lips. When he replies, his voice ends up more sarcastic and mocking than he intended. “Well, these men didn’t get the message, apparently.”

“Those men were just pawns,” Johan coldly explains. “They have been sent by someone.”

Tenma frowns. He doesn’t like what he is hearing. It seems that whoever behind all of this has the same operation mode as Johan: sending men to do his dirty work. “Who?”

Johan doesn’t answer right away this time, and when he does, his voice sounds different. A bit more reticent. That’s disturbingly intimate. “To be honest with you, doctor, I don’t know.”

“You… don’t know.”

“He is very good at keeping his identity secret. He is smart. I have to admit it. But he has made one tiny mistake, one that was costly… He hired too many men to get to my sister. If you hire lots of men, you run the risk of being betrayed.” 

“What are you saying?”

Johan chuckles, and he sounds dangerously proud of himself. “I contacted two of his own men… I turned them against him.”

Tenma doesn’t say it out loud, but he is impressed. He will never stop being amazed by Johan’s intelligence. “How did you do that?”

“I can be very persuasive, doctor,” Johan’s voice is playful. “It is thanks to them that I knew they were coming... They are my source of information… for now.”

“For now...” Tenma repeats. He gets the message behind those cruel words, and that makes him sick. “You are going to kill them, aren't you?” his voice is not above a whisper. 

Johan teases. “Does that bother you, Dr. Tenma?”

That’s a yes.

Oh, Johan is not interested in Tenma’s reticence. He will not try to justify himself, and Tenma does not expect otherwise anyway. Why would he, in fact? Murdering is not a big deal to him. He sees this crime as a mere tool to achieve his goal. 

Tenma is sure that Johan is able to make the difference between right and wrong. He can see that kisses and bullets are not the same thing. He just doesn’t care. He just doesn’t have boundaries, that is why it is impossible to reason with him. 

Tenma knows this won’t change anything, but he still says it. “Yes, it does.” 

Tenma has tried, has tried to make him see the value of human life. He has failed, again and again. Actually, Johan seems to value his sister’s life. That is the only life he has ever protected and cherished. In his own, twisted way. 

“Well, I don’t care,” Johan’s voice is harsh, this time. Cold. Tenma gets the message. So, he changes topics. “There is something I don’t understand… You told me you were feared... Then, why? Why did he attack Nina anyway?”

“I could say that the man behind this may be brave or reckless… Or maybe too desperate. I wonder what I’ve done to him…” Tenma can imagine Johan’s cruel little smirk on his lips, with that unreadable, friendly expression displayed over his features.

The true face of a monster. A monster that does not regret what he has done, even if that endangers his own sister. 

“But it is likely that…” Johan stops, and that is not common. He must be thinking. “Let’s just say that I’ve been in a coma for months. It is difficult to have the situation under control when you’re between life and death.”

Tenma understands: Johan has been able to protect Nina for years because he was in control. He kept the criminals who wanted to take revenge or just overthrow him in check. However, as soon as he was between life and death, they took advantage of it. To rise. And to take revenge.

Tenma sighs. He has one question left. “What is the real reason of your call, Johan? I guess it’s not a little chat…”

Another chuckle. “I do enjoy talking to you, but you are right. The man who sent them… He has an advantage. He knows who I am, and who Nina is, but I don’t know who he is. I need to know his identity, so that we can be on equal terms. That is where you step in. I need you to do something. Something important. For my sister.”

Tenma’s anxiety grows, and he closes his eyes. No… He can’t work for Johan. He feels like he is walking into the lion’s den.

“For you, you mean…” He groans, bitter. 

“Her, me… There is no difference,” Johan’s voice is not above a whisper. It looks like he is talking to himself, but as he carries on, his voice becomes clear again. “Tomorrow night. Someone will come to your apartment. A woman. You will have to follow her.” 

Johan knows where he lives. Perfect. But this can’t be more confusing. “What…? Where would we go?” he frowns. “And what must I do?”

“You’ll see,” Johan stays vague. “You don’t need to know for now. She will give you all the information needed when the time comes.”

So for now, Tenma is kept in the dark... 

Johan leads him around by the nose. He uses him like a pawn, and the criminal doesn't even try to hide it. This can’t be more insulting. “Wait a minute… I…” Tenma stammers. He hates his voice. He shouldn’t show fear in front of Johan. “I don’t know what you want me to do, and I don’t like it! It sounds like a trap.”

“Doctor, I respect you too much to trap you. All I can say to you for now is this; you’ll just have to be yourself, doctor,” his tone sounds like he does him a huge favor.

Tenma rubs his face. It’s reassuring, in a way. It means that Johan will not ask him to kill or torture, or whatever his sick and cruel mind can imagine. However, he is still anxious. He has thought that his past was behind him. He has thought he could move on. Move on from Johan. 

But no. 

He has to do it. He hates being used by Johan, and being thrown into that fight, but he has to. For Nina. 

“Is it the only solution?” he asks, and he hates the fact that his voice quivers. “Is it the only way to find that man’s identity?”

“Yes,” Johan just says. “What you're going to do with that woman will help me. I need to find his identity. That is the only solution. To protect Nina.”

He knows what he is doing. Mentioning Nina and her safety is the best tool he has at his disposal to convince the doctor. And he uses it. He knows that he cares about her. 

“Alright,” Tenma feels he is going to regret that decision very soon, but he has to. Even if it’s dangerous. “Where is she, anyway? She is with you, right? Where are you?”

“Please, doctor,” the criminal sounds so gentle now, so comprehensive. Tenma finds it disturbing. “I understand your concerns, but you know that I’m not going to answer.”

“So, you’re fine with me doing something important for you, but not with me knowing her location? Is your lack of trust that big, Johan? I will never betray Nina, you know that!”

“I do,” Johan answers straight away. That’s surprising. “I know that you will never willingly betray her. But you see, “willingly” is a key word. I don’t want you to break under torture…”

Tenma understands, even though he hates it. 

“Dr. Tenma…”

This time, Johan’s voice is cold, dangerous. It has lost all its previous gentleness. It makes the doctor shudder. “I’m Nina’s best chance to survive this. And what I’m asking you to do is going to be important. With all due respect, if you try to double-cross me, I will have no mercy. Do as I say. Or you won’t like the consequences.”

How dares he?

Tenma should be offended, offended to be threatened on the phone by the man he has saved twice. And of course, he is terrified, because he knows that those are not empty words. Despite their complex relationship, despite the fact that Johan respects him and values him in a way, he would not hesitate to kill him or make him go through hell if he upsets him.

However, he feels… relieved, in a way. Relieved because he sees that Johan doesn’t trifle with the situation. Because his sister’s life is at stake. 

That’s... good. 

“I get it,” the neurosurgeon hisses, sounding as cold as the criminal this time. “Can you do something for me, in return?”

Johan lets out a lovely laugh. It seems to amuse him for some reason. “Of course,” his voice is fawning. “I’m listening, Dr. Tenma.”

He seems to expect a huge favor, or at least a twisted request, but Tenma is not a cruel creature like him. He wants one thing. “Nina... She deserves better. You know that. Please... Take care of her.”

He sounds so stupid, especially if he considers the fact that he is talking to Johan. Johan... There is a long silence on the phone, so long that Tenma thinks for a second that Johan has already hung up, or has thrown the phone away. Yet, he ends up saying, dryly. “Tomorrow night. Don't forget, doctor.”

Tenma opens his mouth, but Johan has already hung up.


	6. Chapter 6

As soon as Nina opens her eyes again, she finds out that Johan has not lied: she indeed feels better. More rested. Well, she has a headache, but it is bearable. She stretches out and she rubs her temples. The bed feels nice and warm, at least. That’s something. 

What time is it? How long was she asleep? She sees no alarm clock nearby, and of course, as she glances at her wrist, she is not wearing her watch. And then, her eyes widen, as everything comes back to her.

Oh no… She… She cried, in front of Johan! She apologized to him, and… Oh, why did she say that? She buries her face in her hands. Oh, that's perfect. Really. She has promised herself not to show her flaws in front of her brother, and yet, here she was, weeping and sobbing next to him. 

She feels her cheeks burning.

It is difficult for her to kick the cover away and stand up, because the only thing she wants right now is to stay in bed and lament her fate. But she does it with a long sigh. Maybe Johan will have mercy and won’t mention what happened… As soon as this naive thought crosses her mind, she almost laughs. 

Johan is the epitome of cruelty and sadism… He will use her guilt against her eventually.

Now standing up, she ignores her shaking legs, and she rubs her eyes. She finally looks around her, and her jaw drops. The bedroom – she supposes it is hers now – is… perfect. No word is strong enough to describe it. 

It is spacious, bright, and huge mirrors cover the papered walls. The pieces of furniture are wooden, which brings elegance and muted colors. Two gigantic crystal chandeliers are suspended, and as she looks down, the floor is elegant, the carpet soft under her bare feet. 

She lets out a chuckle. 

She feels like she is living in a palace from a fairy tale. 

She tends to forget that her brother is basically a millionaire… Is this his house? One of his houses? Where is she, anyway? She can see one huge window, and the blinds are open. She walks towards it. 

She squints and almost presses her face against the pane to see through it. All she can see is a huge garden, with trees, bushes and plants. She can almost hear birdsongs. The garden seems unlimited, given that it stretches as far as the eye can see. It almost looks like a forest. 

Okay, she is really isolated, inside a luxurious house in a rural area. 

She stops looking outside, and she turns around. She now faces a wooden table, and it is an even bigger surprise to catch glimpse of clothes carefully folded on it. Clothes for her. And they are quite different from her usual cute, but comfortable style of dress: it is a long navy-blue and spanged dress, with lace embellishing the collar. Okay, Johan is meticulous and demanding... 

She bits her lower lip, uncomfortable. She knows she has nothing else to put on and she would like to get changed. This is why she accepts the elegant dress despite her discomfort. She is not used to these kinds of dresses made to highlight her feminine shapes and reach the top of women’s fashion, after all. 

As she puts it on, it ends up fitting her perfectly. It is… disturbing. Does Johan know her size?

But she quickly forgets that question as it feels good to wear new clothes. She combs her hair with her fingers, and she sees a glass of water with an aspirin put on the same table.

Nina cannot help but smile a little bit. Johan has lots of vices, but at least, he is thoughtful. No one can say otherwise. She reaches out, relieved as her painful and throbbing head needs that, but at the last second, she stops her hand.

And she does not take the glass.

What if he has drugged that water too? Who knows? She may be paranoid and completely wrong, but it is not that far-fetched. It is Johan, after all. He has done worse. And he had taken advantage of her credulity and gentleness as soon as he got the chance.

She needed to be on her guard!

She decides not to take that glass of water and that aspirin. She winces, unpleased. Her headache will have to heal by itself, but she can’t be that careless. She is with Johan, after all.

Speaking of which, she has not heard him. It strikes her, suddenly; she hears no noise inside the house. It is quiet. Is she alone? Where is Johan? Does he live there?

As much as she fears her brother, she doesn’t really like the idea of being alone in that unknown house, especially as she knows that a mysterious criminal wants her dead. Is she safe, here?

She tiptoes towards the door, and she does her best to silently open it. She moves her head forward through the small opening, and she looks around her. Okay, that’s a corridor, and there is no one.

She bits her lip. Must she go out? Is it wise? She is curious. She wants to visit the house, and her brother may not be here. She gets out of her bedroom and closes the door behind her. 

She starts to walk, passing by countless closed doors. Okay, that house has lots of rooms. But there is one door in particular that draws her attention and makes her stop. Because it is half-open.

It seems like she can enter… It almost seems like an invitation. She carefully approaches the ajar door, looking around her like a child defying authority, and she pushes it open. The first thing she can see inside the room is a bed, with white and plain sheets. 

That’s another bedroom, then... Johan’s? She immediately wonders. As that thought crosses her mind, her heart beats fast and her hands start to shake. Okay, maybe she shouldn’t be here. 

However, she does not move back. Her curiosity is stronger than the warning sign that keeps flickering inside her head. 

Johan has an awfully bad influence on her… Because she stays. Johan doesn’t seem to be here after all, and it won’t hurt anyone if she just… takes a look. And Johan has always been her personal stalker. He has already compromised her privacy. It is fair if she does the same… And she wants it. She wants to rummage through it. She wants to understand him, even the worst facets of him, and now might be her best chance.

Now or never. 

She quickly enters the bedroom, and she looks around her. At first sight, she has nothing to get her teeth into. That bedroom looks like her own, expect for the fact that the walls are plain and bare. There are no mirrors. Weird.

She frowns. 

On the bedside table, she can see a tiny picture near the bedside lamp, but she doesn’t see what it represents from where she is standing. She will have to look at that later! For now, what she does is opening the wardrove. And she frowns. 

It is quite… empty. The few hangers are carefully aligned in the wardrove, and all she can see are two green blazers and two trousers. And two turtleneck sweaters. That is all. 

They are the same. No difference. Thorough. But one detail bothers her: how can he have… the same clothes? Her curiosity is not satisfied, that is why she leans on and starts going through his pockets, not really knowing what she expects to find. Maybe a gun? A knife? A phone? 

But she finds nothing. She is left empty-handed. She stands up straight and she makes a face. She is about to continue her search, but a sudden voice stops her. “Disappointed, Nina?”

That’s Johan. Great, he is here. And she hasn’t heard him. Once again. 

However, this time, she doesn’t give him the pleasure of seeing her jump, although her body instinctively tenses. She bits her lower lip, but she faces him, raising her head. Proud. He is calmly standing near the doorway, hands behind his back, as usual. He is just smiling at her. 

His face is serene. 

He does not seem mad at her.

She doesn’t know if he is pleased because he somehow managed to guess her next move, or because he likes her going through his bedroom and wardrobe…

She reminds herself of the fact that he has asked her a question. She shakes her head, and she tries not to show her sadness. “Honestly? Not really…” 

She knew she would not find much. She has just hoped to find… at least, something.

His eyes look at her from head to toe, and he smiles, pleased. “This dress looks gorgeous on you, sister.” 

“Yes, you have made sure of that…” 

She doesn’t know why it is so important for him. Then, she blinks, and she reminds herself of the fact that she is supposed to be mad at him. He has drugged her! 

“You drugged me,” She narrows her eyes, trying to sound threatening, even though she knows she will never truly frighten her brother. “Don’t do that ever again…”

Johan offers her a lovely smile. He seems to enjoy her anger, but he doesn’t say anything to defend himself. Maybe because he knows that her anger is warranted.

He suddenly moves. He lets her see his hands that were hidden behind his back, and he holds a paper out to her. She frowns, but she takes it, and reads the headline. It is the morning newspaper, and it deals with what happened in her residence. 

She looks up, confused. “What are you trying to tell me?” 

He does not answer, instead showing her his usual cryptic smile: she must find the answer by herself. She starts reading the long article with a sigh, and then she sees it: it talks about a boy injured by a stray bullet. The boy, Damien! He is alive! He is at the hospital, and he is no longer in a critical condition.

“You saved his life,” Johan gently comments, and she feels so relieved. She smiles, and she reads the rest of the article, but there is no other interesting information. Oh, she is missing, according to the article. She must find a way to contact Tenma and tell him she is okay, because she knows Johan will not allow it. He must be worried!

She nods at her brother, as he stays silent. She understands that he allows her being here, so she stays, and she turns her head towards the picture she has seen earlier. There is no point in hiding. She approaches it. She is careful in her slow walk. She does not turn her back on him, instead keeping an eye on him out of the corner of her eyes. Yes, she is learning.

As she gets close to the picture, she finds out that it is a drawing. It is abstract because it represents nothing. There are just vague shapes crisscrossing, and tiny circles. The dominant color is yellow, that's the regular trait.

“What is it?” she whispers, and she hears his footsteps getting closer to her. As soon as he is at her level, she turns her head towards him to look at him.

Johan doesn’t answer immediately. He is staring at the drawing as well for a while, his frozen features giving nothing away, and he ends up saying, with his usual slow voice. “Intriguing, isn’t it?”

“What does it represent?” Her curiosity is too visible. 

“It reminds me of… the desert,” He blinks. He seems lost in his thoughts. She starts to notice that he often disconnects himself from reality. 

“Tell me,” he says, sudden but gentle. “What did you feel back then?”

She has not expected them to go through their childhood that quickly. But so be it. 

“Are you asking me what I felt when I thought I was going to die?” She raises an eyebrow, although she is not as surprised as she should have been. She knows that he is fascinated by death, and everything related to the end. She laughs and she ends up teasing him. “You know how to talk to women, Johan.”

He laughs as well. It does not sound forced. It feels like a real, amused laugh, as if she has just said something funny. It is the first time she has seen the adult Johan laugh like that. It sounds lovely.

Yet, he becomes serious again, and his stare, as intense as ever. “You haven’t answered,” there it is, that dry and severe tone she deeply hates. The one that says to her that he is not going to leave her alone.

She doesn’t resist more. She doesn’t want to. “I… I don’t really remember,” that is such an obvious lie. She remembers it perfectly. She takes a deep breath. That is not the kind of memory she wants to live again, after all. “Sadness. That’s what I felt.”

He blinks, but his face doesn’t change one bit. “Sadness?”

“Yes,” she nods, lowering her eyes. “I thought that it was unfair. My… Our lives couldn’t end here, in that bloody desert. Not after everything. It just felt not right. I wanted to live, and there were so many things I wanted to do, to see with you…” 

She looks up at him and she dares to ask, not expecting much. “What did you feel?”

“Peace.”

He does not say more, but she understands. In fact, she knows he is not lying. She remembers that his face had been the last thing she saw before losing consciousness. He was calmly looking down at her, smiling at her. Staying with her, no matter what. Peaceful. Gentle.

He had accepted it. He had accepted to die with her, because he had everything he ever wanted at that moment. They were together, the only two people left in the whole world. And it was the end.

Their end.

She shrugs, and she manages to sound casual. “Well, we see death rather differently.”

“Because you choose life over death just like Dr. Tenma. That is a foolish belief, sister. Death is everywhere, and it is the natural order of things. There is nothing special in life.” 

She doesn’t know what angers her the most: his impersonal voice or what he is saying. Why is she so angry?

“Stop it…” her voice ends up rude, so rude. “You can fool people, but not me.”

Johan looks down at her, and he seems surprised by her angry tone.

“I’m not lying,” he slowly says.

This time, she tries to make her stare as intense and cold as his. Her goal is not to intimidate him, she is not naive enough to think that she can have that power over him. She just shows him that she can play, just like him. “I know why you believe that way: it is not a philosophical theory, the result of a scientific cogitation. You do not think that because you’re more objective than others. You value death because you hate life. Because you hate your life and what it has become. You think that your life is not valuable because you’ve never truly enjoyed it. Because you’ve never been happy.”

Johan stays silent, watching her without reacting, and Nina slightly frowns. She starts to understand that such a blatant lack of reaction from Johan means that he is trying to contain himself and take the blow. It means that he is affected.

His smiles, laughs or expressive faces are rarely spontaneous, in fact: it is part of the facade, the facade he carefully displays to draw the wanted reactions from people.

From her.

“Are you happy, sister?”

By changing topics in such an obvious way, she has the confirmation that she has touched a nerve. It feels good to put him in his place from time to time. She could insist, push him further, but she doesn’t.

She decides to answer, and she offers him the truth. “No, I’m not.”

With anyone else, she would have lied. She would have pretended that she is happy, that she has everything she’s ever wanted. And she would have displayed a cute, cheerful smile.

However, she doesn’t bother with him, and she doesn’t really know why she is sincerer. She shouldn’t. Any information she offers him about her is a potential weapon he can use against her. She knows that better than anyone. But she can’t help it.

She knows he will never judge her, no matter how unpleasant or unsettling the truth is.

“I’m not happy,” she carries on, calm. “But I can enjoy happy moments,” she looks at him and she kindly smiles at him. She is not trying to attack him, after all. “You can’t…”

Johan smiles as well, but it’s cold and mechanic. He has pulled himself together, it seems. “Go on…” He uses that same pedagogical tone, and that makes Nina nervous. She knows that every single word of hers coming out of her mouth is carefully analyzed.

She sighs, and she shrugs, biting her lower lip. His stare makes her so uncomfortable. “I don’t know, I’m not sure but-”

“Never show doubt,” he dryly interrupts her. “Never. Even if you are not sure. Be confident, and test your theory first based on other people’s reaction.”

She looks at him for a moment, and then she nods, lowering her gaze. She accepts his advice this time.

“You changed families…” her voice is careful. “You changed a lot. Back then. It took me a while to understand why. At first, I thought it was just because you wanted to travel around to meet people and just… learn how to manipulate. Traveling is indeed a good experience. And maybe this was a part of your goal. But I think that’s not all. I think that you…” she clears her throat. Don’t show doubt. “You tried to have a normal life, blend in… You wanted to be like every normal child: have a family, be accepted and loved, go to school, feel… You wanted to live like everyone else. But it failed, that is why you left every time…”

She is not sure at all, that is why she is so hesitant, despite her try to sound firm. Maybe she is completely wrong. Maybe she is just trying to see Johan as human.

Johan’s eyes leave hers, and they are now vacant and shifty. He seems lost in his thoughts again. God, what is he thinking of?

“You’re right,” he slowly nods, still lowering his gaze. “I tried to have a normal life. I needed that, after our separation. But boredom and wrath took over, no matter what I did,” she has no idea why he suddenly shares that with her, but she is not complaining. She wants to hear his thoughts, as depressing and unsettling as they are. “Besides, I’m incapable of loving. Of caring. That is why it was so easy to leave them and kill them afterwards.”

She should feel disgusted by his last words, as he is casually talking about some of his murders, but all she is feeling right now is sadness. Her brother has really been damaged, broken. It must be so horrible, to be unable to… feel attached to the world, to connect with people. A true solitude. 

The little boy he used to be didn’t deserve that. What have they done to him, at that orphanage, to have his mind completely shattered like that?

Her expression must have been really miserable because Johan’s eyes darken, and they turn much colder. He doesn’t like pity, it seems. She winces. Then, a cruel smirk appears on his face and she knows that he is going to attack. 

“I’m going to be honest with you; I like that part of you, Nina.”

She frowns. “What part of me?”

“You can analyze me better than I thought you would be capable of. It is quite new for me, and it’s enjoyable. But be careful. As entertaining as it is, you are playing with fire. You’re so entitled to prove to me that you can be smart too that it makes you careless. In fact, you are just exposing yourself. I have much to tell you too, sister…”

“You have much to tell me, huh…?” she replies, trying to sound fearless. “Then why don’t you say it now?”

“Not now.”

“Why?”

Johan turns around, walking away from her. “I’m patient. But you will see,” it seems like he wants the conversation to end but Nina won’t let him this time.

She has not finished.

“Wait a minute: when will you tell me who is after me?”

Johan suddenly stops walking, hands still behind his back. As he is still turning his back on her, she doesn’t see the expression of his face when he answers. “I don’t have any intention of doing so.”

His voice is so impersonal, as if he is pointing an objective fact. Nina is surprised by this short and blunt answer. What does that mean?

“I’m sorry?” she frowns, and she starts to be irritated again. He is the only one who can make her go from pity to anger in a matter of seconds. “This is about me, Johan. I deserve to know,” she tries to sound as stern as possible.

Her brother slowly turns around, and he faces her again. The mere view of Johan’s expression is enough to turn Nina’s blood cold and suck out the air from her lungs. His face has changed. It is so… cold. Not even a fake teasing smile stirs his lips.

Okay, maybe she has just crossed a line. Johan hates being commanded, it seems. 

“You have no right to blame me for this, Nina,” his words are still polite and nice, but they shape the most dangerous threat. “You have made a choice. You now have to face the consequences.”

Nina can’t speak for a second. She has a bad feeling about it, even though her brother has not done anything yet. Johan is irritated now, so irritated, even if he doesn’t yell. Even if he stays calm.

He is like a shark about to attack.

And it is going to hurt.

“What are you talking about?”

And then, he comes close to her. She holds her breath, but she stays where she is. She refuses to take a step back. She must confront him, be brave. His piercing blue eyes stare at her without compassion. “You refused to carry a weapon, Nina, do you remember?” Oh, his voice is so cruel.

It almost seems like… a pity revenge. What the hell?

“I…” she stammers, biting her lip. “I don’t see the connection.”

His smirk is predatory. He knows he has won. Nina just ignores what exactly, and that just increases her anxiety. He is always ahead, even ahead of her own thoughts. “You don’t want to use a gun ever again, that’s what you said. It means that you don’t want to fight. You want to stay passive. You don’t want to get your hands dirty, because you’re so kind and pure and sweet.” 

He has never used such a scornful tone with her. It hurts so much. It is probably fake just to manipulate her, but it sounds so real.

This time, she does take a step back, terrified, as her brain yells at her to run away, but the wall behind her stops her, and Johan just comes closer once more. “There is no reason for me to tell you who is after you if you don’t want to fight.”

Nina shakes her head. “You… you’re wrong, that’s not it!” 

That’s such a pathetic comeback, even to her own ears.

It is so pathetic that Johan doesn’t even note her intervention. He keeps staring at her, his blue eyes now severe, never leaving hers. Seeing him that close allows her to see the beauty of his features, but also the emptiness of his blue eyes. His cold expression is so insensible and smooth that he seems inhuman.

She almost prefers his amused and cruel smirks.

This is just too… empty.

“I’m going to be very clear, Nina, and I won’t repeat myself,” he says. “You are in my world now. The criminal underworld. That’s a world that is ruthless, and one tiny mistake will be costly. You are targeted by a resourceful criminal. I don’t know what he is planning to do with you. He may want to kill you, but he could have a more creative end for you…”

He is not touched by her terrified expression. She is silently begging him to stop, but he ignores her pleading eyes.

“Who knows…” he continues, and he smiles again. She hates his jubilant smile so much. “He may want you to suffer, little sister. He may want you alive to torture you, draw out the pleasure. There are things that are worse than death… Especially for a woman.”

“Stop…” Nina finally manages to speak, but it is not enough to unsettle her brother and get her breath back. She is losing, and she knows it. He easily and effortlessly goes deeper and deeper into her mind, bringing chaos to her moral principles. He knocks her foundations down. Mercilessly.

“For now, you are safe,” he carries on, impersonal. "I made sure of that. And I will do my best to keep it that way.” 

Those words don’t reassure Nina at all, because she knows Johan has not finished. She knows he is not trying to reassure her, in fact. And she is right; he continues. “But he is determined and ready to do anything to lay hands on you. He will never give up, and despite what everybody seems to believe, I am not omniscient and invincible. He will hunt you down, he will try to force you out of your hiding place. What do you think he will do to achieve his goal?”

She shakes her head again, and she lowers her eyes not to meet Johan’s. She is not going to answer, even though she knows; the only way of forcing her out is targeting the people she loves. That is the most efficient way.

They both know it.

“I… I don’t know,” she lies.

Johan’s smile widens. He knows she is lying. She really cannot hide anything from him. “You do, but I’ll explain. Let me remind you of the fact that he knows who you are and where you were living. Do you think he ignores who Dr. Tenma is? And who Dieter is? Dieter is living with you, after all… Or at least he was… Do you think the man who is after you will not try to attack them both? To force you out?”

His expression suddenly changes. He frowns and he tilts his head to one side. He seems confused and disappointed. Nina clenches her fists, and she really wants to slap him right now. 

“I don’t understand you, Nina… Don’t you want to defend them? Make sure they are safe? Where is the Nina Fortner I know? The smart and brave woman that made sure that the little Dieter was safe from her horrible brother?”

She doesn’t know what to reply. She opens her mouth, but no word comes out. She is speechless, powerless, and her brother knows it. He whispers, to finish her off. “Are you going to abandon them, Nina? Let them die?”

“Stop!” Her voice sounds hoarse and croaky. She tries to get around him, and leave the room, but Johan speaks again, and his voice is gentle this time. “Nina, if you accept to fight, I will tell you who is after you. And I will help you. I will teach you everything.”

He sounds like a knight who would do everything to please his lady. That is so messed up. She has no idea what to say. “T… Teach me?”

“Yes,” Johan nods, firm. “I will teach you how to survive in this world, how to really fight back. How to protect your loved ones. It is painful to see you so vulnerable.”

Those words hit her hard, but the suggestion behind them is even worse. Being trained by Johan? It sounds so wrong, at so many levels. She cannot trust him. If she accepts to be his student, he could influence her, turn her into someone she doesn’t want to become. He could make her use a gun again, torture, kill…

He has such a bad influence on her.

“I… I can’t do that.”

But what about Dieter and Tenma? A dangerous and vicious voice whispers inside her head. She clenches her jaw.

Johan offers her a completely deadpan stare. He chuckles, as he clearly shows his disdain. The difficult thing is that Nina doesn’t know if that is calculated and meant to trigger the wanted reaction from her, or if Johan really scorns her. “Ah yes… You are afraid of my influence. Because you have moral principles,” he shakes his head. “You’re so weak and pathetic.”

That is the last straw.

Nina pulls herself together, and she easily turns her fear into anger. Anger is one of her main driving forces, after all. And she is suddenly so, so angry it scares her. “Oh, you’re disappointed in me, Johan Liebert? I take it as a compliment!”

They both look daggers at each other. Nina is surprised by her own boldness. She is furious, so furious. Him, telling her that she is weak? He has no right to tell her that. Not him!

She sees red.

And for the first time, she speaks to attack. To really attack him. She just wants to hurt him, hurt him as much as he has hurt her.

And the words just flow out. “I’m not sorry for not being like you. In fact, being different from you is the best thing that have ever happened to me, and you’ve always been wrong, Johan. I’m not you, and you’re not me. It has never worked like that. I am a real person, and you’ve always been an empty shell holding onto me to survive. A ghost copying me because you are unable to be yourself. You say that I am weak?! You may be right, but at least I managed to build myself a real life. I managed to become my own person and have a family, find a purpose and people I care about, contrary to you. You’re so weak that you let a fairy tale completely define your existence, and you killed and killed again, you ruined innocent people’s lives just because a fucking book told you to do so!”

She sees that Johan doesn’t react. He stays motionless as he listens to her and takes the blow. His eyes are looking down again. His frozen features give nothing away, but his blue eyes are not serene at all. She sees it.

She has managed to unsettle him and make him shut up.

She is too angry to stop. She is too furious to care. He deserves this. He deserves her cruel words, even if some of them might be unfair. She finally can get everything off her chest, tell him everything she has ever wanted to say. And it feels so good to lash out at him!

“You’ve always been weak, Johan! You’re the most damaged and broken person I’ve ever known, and you use that empty and polite mask to cover it: you’re a lifeless doll, a lifeless puppet with a broken mind which has been controlled by anyone who ever desired to! Bonaparta, Mother, Dr. Tenma, me… Even a book commanded you!” 

She feels her eyes burning with threatening tears, but she refuses to cry in front of him. Not again. “But hear me out: what happened when you were a child is not your fault. What happened with Poppe, in Kinderheim 511… It was not your fault. You were a child, and you have been abused, and they broke you and I’m sorry, Johan… You never deserved that. You never deserved to be tortured and brainwashed. But after that… When we were with the Lieberts… You chose to withdraw. You chose not to talk to me. You chose not to seek for help. Because your lack of trust is that big. I would have loved to help you, take care of you, you know that! You could have made it, Johan. You could have healed!”

“I was a lost cause,” Johan’s voice stays monotonous, but she can hear what’s underneath; she has never heard such a vulnerable tone from him. He still refuses to look at her, and a tiny grimace twists his lips.

It must be unpleasant for him to have such blunt and cruel words being thrown at him. Good, he deserves this! And his intervention doesn’t stop her rage.

“You were not! You gave up, that’s what you did!” she yells at him, flames of rage burning inside her. “You were destroyed in that orphanage, and you did nothing to resist! Nothing! Johan, I’m not saying that I would have solved all your problems with a wave of a magic hand. We could have failed. I could have failed. Maybe it was too late to save you. But at least, at least, you would have tried! You would have tried to recover, but no, you didn’t even try! You are too much of a coward! That is why I found you, a gun in your hands that awful rainy night. You lost control and you destroyed the quiet and happy life we could have had together, as siblings. And that is why you murdered my parents as well! Because you have always been too weak! And that is why I’m stuck with you right now, in that palace with a psycho at my heels! Because of you. So, don’t you dare telling me how weak I am when this is because of your own flaws that we’re in this situation!”

Johan stays silent, and it is so weird not to hear him. He is supposed to be the one in charge. To finish him off, she uses a calm and monotonous tone, similar to his. “So, tell me, Johan…” she whispers. “Who’s really the most pathetic twin?”

It is at this moment, when Nina has finally finished, breathless, that she understands the overwhelming cruelty of her words, and she stops talking. Her rage disappears into thin air, and she does not feel relief. All she can feel now is shame and guilt. No… How could she say that to him?

Her eyes widen, and she tries to approach her brother, ashamed. “Johan, I… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”

But it has been a mistake, because Johan pulls himself together faster than she could have anticipated and as he looks up at her again, his glare is intense, harsh, making her shut up. She now faces the monster.

He takes the opportunity to get back on top.

“Very well, then,” he scowls, and his voice is so cold that Nina shudders. Yes, she has hurt him. And now, she must face the consequences.

“You don’t want to carry a weapon, you don’t want to get your hands dirty and you don’t want my help... because you want to preserve your little conscience. What is happening right now is my fault, you are correct. You care about people, but now you are abandoning them. That is selfish of you, Nina.”

She is frozen. It is too much to handle. All of that. She has been so naive to think that she could deal with him and control him. She now understands why Tenma has been so opposed to her idea.

Johan is too toxic, and everything turns so contagious. 

He looks at her wet eyes, unmoved, but the disdain is gone. He lowers his head just enough to whisper to her. “While you stay here doing nothing, I’m sure the man who chases you will try to kidnap Dieter... Or maybe we will find Dr. Tenma’s corpse shot right through the heart in the coming days. Don’t forget to mention your principles for their funerals. I’m sure it will be a nice touch.”

That hurts so much. She would have preferred being punched rather than hearing this.

And he doesn’t need to say more. That is why he offers her one last cold look, before leaving the room. And now that she is alone, all she can feel is guilt stabbing her chest because she knows that Dieter and Tenma are in danger, because of her. She can’t take Johan’s burning words out of her mind.

He has won.


	7. Chapter 7

When Nina joins Johan in the living room, three hours have passed. It has been three hours since they argued. The criminal can’t help but smile a little bit, even though he gives every appearance of reading a book. He means to ignore her. 

He has expected her to chew over their argument, locked up in her bedroom, for at least four hours. 

She is early.

One quick glance towards his sister makes him understand that she has cried. Her eyes are too red. He is not surprised: their argument was… intense, even for him. It had been a long time since he last… felt that way. 

He wasn’t really angry at her. He couldn’t. To be fair, his own words had been hard, willingly hard, to shake her. He had expected tears, denial, even some anger, of course, but not that destructive rage that suddenly invaded her and hit him like a wrecking ball. 

Everything turns so contagious with her. He can feel her emotions like his own, well even better than his own: hers feel more real. And that rage of hers was powerful. He felt something, something stabbing his chest and twisting. 

So unsettling. 

Her walk is clearly hesitant, but she still heads towards him and she stands in front of him. He keeps looking down at his book. He doesn’t even know its title. 

Her thumb nervously strokes the back of her hand. He finally looks up at her with his coldest stare. He does not start the conversation. She is the one who decided to come to him. She must be the first to speak. 

She clears her throat. “I accept.”

Johan is surprised, but he keeps his face impassive. So… That’s it? She just accepts his help and his training, despite her being so against it three hours ago? 

It is too easy to manipulate her. It is disappointing. He expects her to be special, at least. She loves life and she cares about people. That’s her flaw, a flaw he uses against her. Dieter and Tenma are her weak spot. She would do anything to protect them. 

“I want you to listen to me,” she hisses through clenched teeth, and she takes a deep breath. She looks like she is about to make a deal with the Devil. Amusing. “You have my trust.”

“Unwise,” he means it. That’s not a threat. She just shouldn’t trust him. She knows him better than anyone, yet she is kind and trustful with him. That just doesn’t feel right.

It is illogical. And he hates not understanding. 

However, her eyes are cold now. They almost look like his own. “Hear me out: I trust you for this and only this,” she says. “I know that you’ll be a wonderful teacher. You know that world better than anyone. So, I accept to rely on you, learn from you. I will listen to you. To protect Tenma and Dieter.”

He smiles. That is interesting. Finally, the boring days are over. Anna manages to entertain him, effortlessly.

“Are you ready for that?” He teases.

“Just stop…” her voice is surprisingly authoritarian, even if she tiredly closes her eyes. He can’t help but smile, pleased. “Don’t pretend you’re worried about my sanity. You don’t care about what I think. And no, I’m not ready for that… But it’s the cost I’m willing to pay and I’m fully aware of how dangerous it is. This is why I have conditions.”

“I assumed there would be…” He softly says, still smiling.

It is fair, after all. He would have been disappointed if she had jumped in without covering herself. She must not be careless. It seems that she slowly starts to understand this. Good. She needs that to survive. 

Now, what are her conditions? The fact that she is obviously anxious draws his attention. He is curious. 

“I’m listening,” he encourages her, gently.

It gives her strength, it seems, because she answers. “Three conditions. Nonnegotiable.” 

Interesting. She has thought of it for a while, it seems. She has pondered. Good. She must always think. 

“The first one… I want you to stop ignoring my thoughts and wishes. As I accept your training, it means that I want to fight, so it means that I want us to work together. I want to know everything. Everything about the man who hunts me down, everything about your plans and your future decisions. Nothing will be done without my consent. You will have to stop being a lone wolf. You will have to rely on me too.”

He must be honest; he has not expected that. And he is not pleased. He hates sharing. He hates communication, and she knows it. Yet, at the same time, he admits that she has guts. She is brave. Brave enough to challenge him. 

She dares to push him, shake him up. He likes it, somehow.

“That’s a lot,” he protests to see how she will react. Don’t abandon, Anna. Insist. Don’t break. 

Her eyes darken, and she scowls. “Oh, you don’t like it, brother? Do you think I like this situation? I don’t, but I still try and I keep it for myself, so there is no reason for you not to do the same. And…”

Her voice becomes softer. No, that’s not good. He doesn’t deserve her kindness. He doesn’t know how to react to kindness.

“I know you’re not used to work with someone else and share your ideas. I understand that what I’m asking is huge. But it will be complicated for me too. I think we can both try…”

She smiles at him. It is amusing how hard she tries to make him soften up. To look for kindness in him. He doesn’t know if there’s any kindness left inside of him somewhere. 

But then, she surprises him because her features harden, and her voice sounds dry again. “And you wanted to help, right? That’s what you said. So, we will work together,” she clears her throat. “Take it or leave it.”

Ah, she has put things right. She really needs to impose herself, be more confident.

“What’s the second condition?” He doesn’t accept just yet. He lets her speak, reveal everything by herself.

Nina purses her lips, which means that she is even more nervous. “I want to be able to contact Tenma and Dieter anytime I want.”

That’s risky. He doesn’t like that either, but that’s for a different reason. Having access to a phone could endanger her life, the exact opposite of what he is trying to accomplish. 

“I can’t accept that,” he refuses. He doesn’t want to upset her, this time. He just can’t accept. “That’s not safe for you.”

She bitterly laughs, shaking her head. “Don’t tell me you haven’t contacted people by now!”

She is not wrong. He has contacted people, like that dear Dr. Tenma. Of course, he doesn’t share that detail. She doesn’t know that her dear doctor is involved. He stays silent.

“I’m sure you found a way to call your lackeys from here, so I want to have access to that communication as well,” she demands. “I don’t want to be cut off from the rest of the world. And I’m not stupid: I won’t call them every day.”

He is hesitant. “Nina…”

Her face becomes tired suddenly, and she sighs. Johan doesn’t understand, but he sees it; it is not a whim. She really needs that. “It is just to be sure they’re okay.”

Her trembling voice touches something in him, something he can’t understand nor analyze. He looks at her for a while, thinking. Maybe he could allow her?

“What’s the last condition?” He asks, cold. 

Nina’s eyes are bright with hope. She has expected more reticence. Oh, silly Anna. He hasn’t accepted yet. 

She clears her throat, and she lowers her gaze. “As I’ve said before… I will do my best to follow your orders. However, I don’t know what you plan to do with me. What you mean by teaching me how to really fight back.”

He keeps smiling, and he teases her. “Are you afraid of my influence, sister?” He loves playing with her. 

“Yes,” she glares up at him, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “And I know that you don’t blame me for that…”

She is right. He doesn’t. 

She carries on. “Maybe you want me to become a little monster like you, maybe you want me to kill… I don’t know what is happening in that sick brain of yours because you tell me nothing…” 

How adorable she sounds, so frustrated and bitter. That is something he has noticed a lot. 

She is angry at him for not sharing, for not wanting communication. The logical explanation to that anger is that she wants connection with him, and that is a strange thought. He is unable to bond. How can she think he can?

And… why? Why does she seem to be… attached to him, in a certain way? There was her name: “Nina Fortner”. To him, it was clear: by choosing that name, she wants to move on from her past and get rid of him. Then, why the contrary, suddenly? 

That’s not logical. 

She seems more lost and conflicted than she deeply wants to admit. 

“But as you know,” she carries on. “I have boundaries that you don’t. And I’ve promised. I will never kill anyone.” 

He is careful to keep his face impassive, but she still scowls, looking at him with defiance. She must have felt his discontent. Surprising. He is not used to being readable. She is the only one who appears to understand his reactions. 

Can she also feel his emotions like he can feel her own? 

She carries on, and her voice is firm. She is stubborn. “I don’t care if you don’t like it. That is not my problem. That’s yours. I will never harm anyone. I will never kill anyone. All I want is being able to protect the people I care about and know how to properly deal with this world, and I’m sure I don’t necessarily need to torture a man to death or kill his entire family for that. Those are my limits. They will stay that way. Am I clear?”

“You are, little sister,” he nods.

She looks at him, and her gaze is intense. “Can I trust you with that, Johan?”

The criminal stays silent for a while, and he stands up to approach her. Her body does not tense up. Good. She improves. “There are things we need to clarify before we start. You’re nervous and afraid, right?”

His voice is not judging, but she is still on the defensive. Adorable. “I don’t know, Johan, I guess everyone would be afraid in that situation, don’t you think?”

“Yes. It is normal to be afraid,” he uses a gentle tone, the one he saves only for her. “It proves that you know where you’re getting into. I’m not going to pretend otherwise; it is going to be hard,” he wants to test something. Slowly, he takes one of her hands. Her eyes widen, obviously surprised, but she does not move her hand away. 

Johan’s blue eyes stay focused on his hand holding hers as he continues. His gentle voice doesn’t match the cruelty of his words. “I’m not your friend. I’m not your brother, Nina. Never forget that. We used to be siblings, but now we are nothing.”

She struggles to look at him in the eye, and he can see that it pains her. It is necessary: she needs to stop looking for… whatever she wants with him. They are not siblings, no matter what genetics say. She needs to stop seeing him like a brother. 

He is a monster. Nameless. Destructive. 

He continues. “But I promise to respect your boundaries. I will not force you to do something you don’t want to do. Like killing or torturing.”

She is distrustful, of course she is, and she narrows her eyes. She gently moves her hand away. “Why being so generous?”

“Forcing you to do things you don’t want to do could disturb your training,” he says, impersonal. He is not generous. He just wants the training to be as efficient as possible.

She keeps looking at him for a short while, and then she ends up smiling. Gently. Relieved. “I appreciate it.”

He doesn’t know why, but he continues. “My goal is not to turn you into someone like me. I don’t want you to be like me. That is why I left you many years ago…” this time, he must struggle to keep his voice cold. 

The choice he had made, at that moment, hurt. It had hurt so much to be separated from her. Yet, it was the right thing to do. For her. She needed good parents to take care of her, parents who could love her, give her what he couldn’t. 

He had sacrificed his own selfish needs for her. Sacrifice. Some might say that it is the ultimate proof of love. Was it really love? He doesn’t know himself. “I kept my distance to save you from me.”

Her blue eyes soften up, in the same way they usually do when he talks about the pale and weak boy he used to be. She seems to miss the younger him, the boy who did his best to protect her… 

Then, she frowns, as if she has just noticed something, unpleased. “You haven’t explicitly accepted my conditions.”

He nods, smiling. “Glad you noticed.”

She insists. “Do we have a deal, Johan?” She dares to show her best puppy eyes, and he almost laughs. It is so amusing. 

And suddenly, he wants to offer her another gift, another key element to help her deal with him. “You have a lot to learn, little sister,” he can’t suppress the strange fondness he feels. “Another piece of advice: if you want me to accept something, be logical and find a way to force me to accept. Feelings do not get a grip on me.”

She thinks for a time, and then she asks, hesitant. “Like blackmail?”

“For example.”

“Okay…” A sudden playful smirk spreads on her lips, but her blue eyes stay serious. She has just found, it seems. “If you don’t accept my conditions, I’ll leave.”

Ah, interesting. She is smart. She understands that the only element she can use against him is his wish to keep her alive. “And where will you go?” He asks, playing with her.

“I have contacts,” she shrugs. “I’m not as alone as you believe I am. And there are other places I could go without endangering anyone...”

“You’re safe here.”

Her smirk becomes wider. “Well, that’d be too bad if I leave, then…”

That is a smart comeback. 

He wants to test her more; see how far she can go. “Do you think this pathetic threat frighten me? I could just lock you up in your bedroom or bind you.”

She blinks, and she starts not to be as confident as before. Ah, it’s easy to unsettle her. “You wouldn’t dare…” She sounds unsure, and he dangerously smirks.

Of course, he would. He doesn’t even need to answer. He would do anything to keep her safe, even act against her wishes. She would hate him, but he doesn’t care. 

She pulls herself together and she raises her chin. “Well, that’s a flawed logic: firstly, if you try, I break your arm. Do not forget that I can. And secondly, if you keep me locked up, then everything will be broken: I will not accept your training, so I won't be able to learn from you… So I’d still be vulnerable. The problem will not be sorted out. We would both lose.”

He chuckles, pleased. There it is; she has won. He nods. “We have a deal, Anna. I accept your conditions.”

He thinks that the conversation is over, so he slowly walks towards the exit. 

“Johan…” her shy voice stops him, and he knows what she is going to say before she opens her mouth again. “About what happened earlier, what I’ve told you… I… I’m sorry…”

He turns around and he shakes his head. She must stop. “Don’t be,” he replies with boredom. “Don’t apologize. I don’t care about regrets,” he slowly smirks and he carries on with an honeyed voice. “But you seem to be quite regretful, isn’t that right? If I remember correctly, this is not the first time you apologize. Do you regret shooting me, Nina?”

Her face twists in pain, and she does not bother to lie. That’s useless. “Yes.”

“And that’s stupid,” Johan’s voice is cold again because he feels that way. He doesn’t lie to make her feel better. That is just what he thinks. “What happened that night was simple. I asked you to shoot me in the head. You did, yet fate intervened and saved me. I have nothing to forgive because I was not betrayed. That’s what I asked you to do.”

She shakes her head. Yes, she refuses to hear that. It is too cold for her. “How can you be so detached?” He doesn’t miss her accusatory tone, and he doesn’t blame her for not understanding. 

“Because I am.”

“Liar!” her fists clench, but he doesn’t move. He lets her speak, and she points a finger at him. A trembling one. “You cried that day! When you regained consciousness and saw me, you cried!” 

She is right. He did cry. Well, he has cried plenty of times, both as a child and as an adult. The thing is that for once, at the hospital, his tears had been sincere. He remembers it: hot tears falling down his cheeks, without a stop. He couldn’t control it. He hadn't cried because she shot him. He had cried because he survived.

“I did,” he gently confirms it. There is no point in lying. “Because I lost you.”

That hurt, too. Incredibly so. The way she screamed in terror as soon as she saw him in his hospital bed. The way she was terrified. He had hated seeing those emotions in her, in the little girl she was. Hurting her was the last thing he ever wanted. 

Yet, he failed. Again. 

She lowers her head, and her voice shakes. “So I’m right, then. It hurt you to lose me, and you lost me because I shot you! If I-”

“No,” he replies, but she refuses to look up. “I lost you because of what I’ve done, not because of what you did. I lost you the second you found out about my true self. I did my best to hide it from you, but I failed,” she really needs to be freed from that guilt. 

Does he… want to comfort her? That’s a strange thought, even coming from him.

He comes close to her, and two of his pale fingers gently catch her chin. He forces her to look at him in the eye.

“The little girl you were back then rejected me and she forgot about me, but not because she was cruel or dishonest, but because she protected herself and survived. Don’t apologize because you survived, Nina. You’re better than this.” 

She stays silent and bits her lower lip, but she listens to him with attention. It seems like she needed to hear those words, not to comfort herself, but to understand his point of view on the matter. Even though it won’t make the pain go away, she now has the whole picture. 

He really tries to comfort her, to help her… Why is he doing that?

His voice becomes the softest caress, as gentle as he can. “You told me that what happened with Bonarparta and Kinderheim 511 were not my fault because I was a child, do you remember? You believed in that. Well, this time it’s my turn to say it: you were a child, a terrified little girl who didn’t know what to do, and that little girl decided to follow what her brother commanded her to do.”

She doesn’t answer. All she does is just nodding, telling him that she understands what his point is. Good. She need time. He ends the conversation this time, and he stops touching her chin. “Tomorrow. 4.30 pm. Here. First lesson.”

“Well…” she clears her throat. “I… I need sportswear…”

He smiles, amused. She is ill at ease, suddenly. Oh, silly Anna. Does she really think she is just going to… exercise? 

“It’s no use,” he gently shakes his head, and before she can ask him any other questions, he leaves the living room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tenma will be back (and Dieter too)


	8. Chapter 8

Dr. Tenma tried to run away from it, but he knew it wouldn’t last forever. He feared Dieter’s reaction.

Tenma is looking down at his phone. His trembling fingers are brushing the screen. Sometimes they manage to tap Dieter’s number, just to erase it a few moments later. He keeps glancing at the clock and he doesn’t like what he is seeing.

The mysterious woman Johan hired will come soon. Here. At his house. And he is not ready. He doesn’t even know what’s coming for him. But the worst part is that he hasn’t even contacted Dieter yet. He feels guilty. He knows he must call him: Dieter deserves to be told what is happening with Nina by a close family member, not by the newspapers. That's the least he can do.

And in fact, Tenma knows more than the police: the police is kind of lost right now. A picture of Nina has been shown. They have carefully announced that she is missing. They start to suspect, to look for information thanks to the bodies they have found in the residence, but nothing more.

If only they knew…

He must call Dieter because the boy will know, eventually. And before he knows it, his fingers tap the number, and he presses the phone against his ear. A part of him wants Dieter not to answer. To ignore this call. It is stupid, but if Dieter doesn't know, he will remain happy, in a way. He will be eaten up with remorse if he knows. But in fact, Tenma knows he will answer. And that's what he does. “Hi, Tenma!” 

Tenma clenches his jaw. Dieter’s tone is so natural and happy… Okay, he doesn’t know. So, it means that Dr. Gillen and Dr. Reichwein don’t know either… How will they react?

The doctor opens his mouth, but no sound comes out. As he doesn’t talk, Dieter’s voice intervenes again, and he sounds more careful this time. “Hum, are you okay?” He must feel that something is wrong. 

"Dieter, it's..." He stops, and then, Tenma starts talking. He tells him everything because the kid deserves the whole truth. He tells him about Nina’s residence, the dead bodies, Damien, her disappearance, and Johan's phone call. He tells him everything he knows, and the boy never interrupts him. He must be shocked to hear this, too shocked to intervene.

As soon as he has finished, Tenma takes a deep breath and he waits. He feels exhausted and he closes his eyes, dreading Dieter’s reaction. That is why he quickly clarifies a point. “Dieter, I know it may sound crazy, but... I think that Johan is not lying. She is fine.”

There is a long silence on the phone, and when the boy speaks again, his voice sounds determined. Almost harsh. “Where are you? I’m coming.”

“No! Dieter…” Tenma shakes his head, violently, and he purses his lips. He knows that what he is about to say will be unbearable to hear. “I don’t want you to join me. I want you to continue your normal life-”

And Dieter lashes out. “You can’t ask me that, that’s unfair!”

“I know, Dieter… I know…” Tenma whispers. He understands Dieter too much. He loves Nina, like a sister. And he is terrified. Just like him. So, he wants to act, to help. To feel useful. Because powerlessness will kill them both. “But you must. You can’t interfere. It’s bigger than you and it is too dangerous! You must stay safe.”

“I can’t have a normal life! Nothing is normal, right now! You’re working with Johan, Nina… She… She is in danger; she is stuck with her psycho brother, and another psycho is after her. I can’t let her down and pretend it’s not happening! I can’t let you down either!”

“You’re not letting her down, Dieter!” Tenma replies, with a firm voice. He uses a stern voice, sounding like a father. The kid needs that. He needs a strong presence by his side that can keep him on the right track. “You are doing what she wants you to do! She worked hard for you to be safe…”

“Why would I care about being safe when you and Nina are not?” Dieter’s voice starts trembling now, and Tenma feels his heart break in pieces. Dieter is slowly panicking. This is so unfair. After everything Dieter and Nina went through... They deserved to be happy. “What if Johan decides to hurt her? What if she is caught? What if you are caught? What if-”

“Dieter!” Tenma firmly interrupts him. He has raised his voice. And it works, because Dieter stops talking. “Listen to me: I’m scared too. And this situation… It’s… I know it’s hard, I know. But I’m working on it. I’m going to bring her back home; I’m not going to stop looking for her, do you hear me? I promise.” 

He doesn’t lie. He is determined to bring Nina back, alive. And if he must work for Johan, then so be it. And to be honest, he knows that he can count on Johan for this one thing. It is a weird thought, but he knows that the criminal will fight to keep his sister safe. They share the same goal, this time. 

“But…”

“Dieter…” Tenma’s voice becomes gentle again. Kind. He speaks with his heart, as he usually does. “Do you know what Nina said to me when she found out that her brother ran away from the hospital? When I came to find both of you? She talked about you. About your safety. She wanted to do everything she could to protect you. She fought for you, and she will continue to do so. Dieter… I understand you want to find her, help her… But you’re not going to help her this way! You’re just going to destroy what she built for you. You're just going to make things worse!”

“Oh, because doing nothing helps her?” Tenma hates it, but he understands the kid’s point. “You do help her!”

Does he really help her? A silent voice whispers inside the doctor's head, tormenting him. He doesn't really know what he is doing. Trusting Johan is a risky move. “…It’s different for me. I have… contacts with Johan. I can… work with him in a way and see what I can do. You don’t have that…” Suddenly, the doctor’s voice sounds exhausted and he sighs. “Dieter… I can’t lose her. And I can’t lose you too. You know how dangerous it is. You know. And I can’t worry about you too. I can’t fight knowing the two people I care about the most are in danger and risk to die. I can’t.”

Dieter doesn’t answer this time, and Tenma takes it as a good sign: hope is slowly building up inside his chest. Maybe he is doing things right. He will have to call Dr. Gillen as well, so that he keeps an eye on Dieter. He knows that the two doctors care about Nina a lot, but they are measured. They will think of Dieter too and make sure he doesn't try anything stupid. “Dieter, swear to me you won’t risk your life… Swear to me. I will bring her back, Dieter. I promise I will. Trust me.”

And then, someone knocks on the door. He knows who that is. The woman. The doctor closes his eyes, and he groans in frustration. Bad timing! He hates himself for it, but he tells Dieter that he must go. He tells him that he will call him again as soon as he can. 

Dieter hangs up without another word. Wihtout even saying goodbye. Tenma feels his stomach clench. He knows that he has not totally managed to convince the kid. He may have failed. And now, Dieter is alone. He can't comfort him. He can't even join him. He hopes that Dieter will choose to go find Dr. Gillen to talk to him... Dieter has always been reasonable...

Another knock. He finally stands up and he walks towards the front door. He takes a deep breath, and as he opens it, he comes face to face with a blond woman, far younger than she has anticipated. Her green eyes are so… hard. Cold. “Dr. Tenma, I presume?” Even her voice sounds grumpy and uncivil.

“Yes, that’s me,” Tenma answers with difficulty because his throat is too dry. He feels so uncomfortable. He doesn’t know where they’re heading. He doesn’t know what the point of all of this is. What is his role? He guesses he must rely on Johan now… 

“You’ll just have to be yourself, doctor,” Johan’s cryptic words come back inside his head. What’s that supposed to mean? He is angry, frustrated.

“I imagined you taller, to be honest…” She says, with a scornful smirk. Okay, she does not really seem nice. “You know, Johan has a lot of esteem for you… the way he described you, and talked about you…" she raises her eyebrows. "I hope he wasn't lying. I really hope you're as skilled as he said you were.”

It almost sounds like a threat, but Tenma is not intimidated at all. He doesn't care at all about her or about what she thinks. He shakes his head and lets out a bitter laugh. “Yes, so much esteem that he refuses to tell me where we are going…”

And she doesn’t tell him either. She just nods, understanding his point, but she is not surprised. He can see that she doesn’t feel sorry for him at all. "And you are?" He asks, politely. At least, can he have a name?

"I'm Marie. I'm French," she answers, pressing a hand against her chest to introduce herself. It is true that he can hear an accent... What is she doing here? What does Johan offer her? His thoughts are cut short as she rolls her eyes. "Look, I hate losing my time and we're not going to stay here at your doorstep... Let's move!" 

And she turns around without even asking him. Tenma sighs, but he leaves his apartment with her, and he doesn’t even know if he’s ever going to go back again. He doesn't even know what he will do. But he follows her anyway and stays obedient.

For Nina. For Dieter.

OoO

“Are you a hairdresser as a freelancer, brother…?” Nina raises an eyebrow, and she forces herself to smile. 

If Johan perceives her mocking tone, he does not show it. Instead, he keeps his attention on Nina’s ponytail, putting two more barrettes in her blond hair to get rid of unruly locks. 

She has no idea why he is doing that. He is now doing her hair, with his usual meticulousness, and it is so… weird. She would be laughing if it was not that disturbing. 

The worst part is that Johan stays silent and doesn’t even explain. In fact, as soon as she joined him in the living room for her first lesson, he gently dragged her inside her bathroom, made her sit down in front of the mirror, and he just… presented her another blue dress for her to put on and started to tie her hair back. 

Of course, he refused to answer her questions. 

Again, it is… disturbing. 

“I’m good at multitasking…” Johan’s lips form a ghost-like smile, and he looks up at her reflection in the mirror. “You find it disturbing, don’t you?”

Nina’s smile is sincerer this time. “You know, I have a theory: you can actually read minds… That would explain so much…” She can’t hide her fondness: she loves her brother when he is an annoying know-it-all. It allows her to tease him and it reminds her of their past. 

When she didn’t know her brother was a killer. What she doesn't like however is his way of staying silent and cryptic. 

“What troubles you?” He gently asks her. He can do that, sometimes. He can use a very gentle voice and careful eyes, giving her enough time to ask.

Nina shrugs, and she looks at her ponytail. She turns her head to the side. It seems simple, but it changes her a lot. She seems more mature, because her neck and jaw are now exposed, and the low-cut neckline of her dress is really visible. It seems to highlight her… beauty. Her feminity. “When you told me I would have my first lesson today, I expected something else… You sounded way more dramatic than what is happening right now…”

Johan smiles at her, probably amused, but he doesn’t answer. 

And it is too much for Nina. She turns around to face Johan, to really look at him. Quicker than necessary. “What is all of this about, Johan…?” She still sounds kind. 

Johan stays as calm as ever. He moves away from her for one second just to retrieve a fur cloak. He hands it to her, and as she takes it with confusion, he finally accepts to talk more. “All of this is about physical appearance. It is a crucial part of your training. Of your… facade. You must always think of the image you are currently displaying.”

He sees her skeptical expression and he clarifies. “Your physical appearance and behavior influence people, whether they’re aware of this or not. That includes me.”

Nina frowns, as she uses the cloak to cover her bare shoulders. It is true that she starts to get cold wearing that dress. Anyway... Is that the content of the first lesson? Teaching her how to… manipulate through appearance? Teaching her how to use her look and behavior to influence and therefore achieve her goals? It sounds… trivial. 

“That’s it?” She is relieved, but also a bit disappointed. She has expected more creative and perverse ideas, to be honest. 

And Johan smirks, proud of himself. He must have felt her disappointment. “Trust me: it is more difficult than you think it is... And less boring than it sounds.”

Yes, he may not be wrong. Nina looks down and she purses her lips. She has always been spontaneous, contrary to Johan: Johan thinks of everything. He is paranoid, and he adapts his behavior to his needs. She is naïve. Two sides of the same coin.

“Yeah, it’s probably going to be tricky… I’m not used to it…”

She did not really think of what she has just mumbled, but she suddenly sees that Johan’s smile becomes wider and her brother slowly lowers so that his face comes near hers. 

“Really?” His voice is so honeyed, so teasing. It makes her shudder. “Is that a lie, little sister…?”

“A lie?” she doesn’t understand.

“You’re not used to it? To pretend? What about that cute and cheerful smile of yours? Your apparent cheerfulness you used to display, in Heidelberg? It was fake. You used that mask to protect yourself. And you actually managed to fool most people around you.”

Her eyes widen, and she feels so uncomfortable suddenly. How can he know…? He is not wrong, in fact, but the thing is that she never really thought about it. She never… calculated it. Her smiles used to be that when she was amnesiac: a protection. A dodge. He is correct.

But she never used them to… manipulate. She has never wanted to manipulate and bring people where she wanted them to be. Right? 

She doesn’t answer, and Johan continues, his blue eyes as piercing as ever, as if he is looking at a fascinating creature higher than himself. “You do know how to pretend and fake emotions. You understand how it works. You can be as manipulative as I am. In fact, everybody pretends, whether they're aware of this or not. Understand that faking a smile is already building up a facade. You smile because you want the people around you to see it, and therefore behave a certain way. The problem is that it was not intentional. You didn't know. This has to change now: it has to be deliberate, all the time or most of the time.” 

“And…” she clears her throat to firm up her trembling voice. “What sort of image do you want me to display right now?” She asks, but she can guess the answer… 

Low-cut neckline, skin-tight dress, an elegant fur cloak… 

He probably wants her to look like the perfect confident girl, a strong woman who likes showing her body and how dangerous she can be. She tried to look that way when she wanted to meet the Baby. The difference is that now, she has a teacher by her side. And she doesn't want to murder her brother anymore.

Johan chuckles, as if she has just asked the stupidest question ever. “That’s up to you… You must decide that by yourself. You must be able to adapt… to change your behavior in accordance with the type of people around you…” 

He annoys her so much when he does that. Giving her a lovely smile and letting her in the dark. He doesn’t really help her. "But you tell me what to wear, now... I can't decide that way..."

“Faking is much more than just clothes… It is everywhere, in the tone of your voice, in the movement of your body… It is an armor, covering everything and here to fight your opponents… And this armor changes… depending on the identity of your preys and depending on what you're trying to accomplish.”

She shudders. Her preys… It doesn’t sound right. 

“Okay...” She says, hesitant. She has many questions, but she lets him speak. His expression is different now: it is still as cold as ever of course, but there is something else underneath: jubilation. 

He likes that. He likes sharing what he knows with her. He likes showing her that he knows. Maybe he also likes that communication she is offering him, in a way. It is a talk in which he can speak his mind without really faking, without erasing the worst parts of himself. He indeed shows her his own strategy. But in fact, she does not really see that as a communication. 

It is very weird to live with Johan in that house. She has dreaded it. She has thought that it was going to be unbearable, that he would violate her intimacy. 

But in fact, it is quite the opposite, and it is as disturbing; she has the feeling that she is living… alone. Johan is not invasive or intrusive, but that is the point: it seems like she is living with a ghost. She only hears him when he comes to talk to her, which is rare, only when he has a purpose in mind. 

She never sees him drink or eat. She never hears him take a shower… She doesn't even know if he is sleeping here.

Johan suddenly snaps his fingers near her face to draw her attention back, as she has lost control of her train of thoughts, and she almost jumps. She blinks a little, and she feels her cheeks burning. Great. She is inattentive. She looks down, ashamed. “Sorry…”

Johan’s smile is so sweet. “It’s fine. I was saying that the ability to control the way you look… It is acquired by training and experience. That’s why we’re leaving for a few hours…”

Nina can’t hide her surprise. Are they really going out? Where? 

“I want us to go somewhere, for you to practice…” Johan continues, and by saying that, he moves away from her and he takes his own coat. Okay, so now she understands the fur cloak he has just given to her. “This will be the lions’ den for you. A place of alcohol and debauchery… And misogyny, of course. You must never be a prey in that sort of place, Nina. Otherwise, you die.”

She nods, but she can’t hide her nervousness and fear. Okay… Johan is not a patient teacher. He directly brings her and the reality face to face. He is not going to spare her. She feels that she needs to learn as much as possible about that place, to anticipate. And to know how to behave.

“So, that’s the first lesson? You want me to play the strong girl in front of criminals armed to the teeth…?”

“Not really…” Another cryptic smile. 

She knows her brother; Johan will not break the back of the work for her. She needs to find out by herself. 

“Okay…” she sighs. “Where are we going?”

“In a bar. We will meet a good friend of mine…”

“You don’t have friends…” It is not meant to be a rude remark. It is just the truth. 

And Johan takes it that way because he nods, satisfied. “Glad you understand that… In my world, there is no such thing as friends. It does not exist. We are just criminals using the other for our own interests. A friend can become an enemy in a matter of seconds.”

“And who is that friend?” She wants to know as much as possible about them if she is going to confront them. 

“He calls himself the Collector. Resourceful, but miserly, that’s his flaw. He is ready to do everything just to lay hands on a few wads of bills… He is the one who told me you were in danger.”

Okay, she hasn’t expected that. It is true that now that she thinks about it, she doesn’t even know how her brother found out she was in danger. Because he is still too mysterious. And actually… what was he doing before he knew…? 

“Why did he tell you?”

“He owed me one…” Johan explains. “I helped his daughter in the past… Boring story, but I’ve learned that he is very fond of her,” his eyes stare at her with attention, as if he is offering her a key element she must remember. She really tries to be a good student, so she nods.

She needs to adapt… Shape her façade. Got it.

“How did he know that I was in danger?”

Johan doesn’t answer immediately, but he finally accepts to share. “Because he was contacted by the man who hunts you down,” Nina’s eyes widen, but she doesn’t have the time to intervene. “The man who hunts you down… He needed men… Men to break into your house to collect you, or kill you. The Collector helped him in exchange of money and then he called me. He gave me the contact details of two of the hired men…” 

Okay, it starts to make sense; he talks about the two men Nina saw in the elevator… The two men who were working for Johan.

There is something that bothers her in his speech, though… He never names the man who hunts her down. It was logical before their little deal, when he told her that he will tell her who is after her if she accepted to fight, but now? She has accepted! He is supposed to tell her.

And then, it strikes her, and anger suddenly burns her stomach. Her epression darkens, and she whispers. “You don’t know who he is, do you?”

Johan confronts her glare without turning a hair. “I don’t.”

It is hard to take the blow. 

Why is she so… disappointed? She is both angry at him and at herself. She should know that this is something Johan can do. She struggles to understand it: Johan is her best ally, and her worst enemy, and he never hid that fact. 

She stands up, but she sighs, exhausted. She isn’t as mad as she wants to be. She is just too tired. Or maybe she is too used to Johan. “You lied to me… You told me you would tell me his identity if I accepted to fight… But you don’t even know it. You lied to manipulate me and force me to do what you wanted…”

And it worked. That was the worst.

Of course, her brother doesn’t show guilt. He will never be sorry. He doesn't answer, and she starts to understand that he often stays silent when she blames him. It could be because he doesn't care. 

“We’re supposed to have a deal…” She carries on, frowning. “We’re supposed to work together, Johan… That won’t work this way if you keep to yourself…” Her voice becomes softer, even though she doesn’t understand why she is kind with him now. He deserves to be scolded. Perhaps it is because their last argument was still floating between them, and she wanted to avoid another one.

“Technically, this little lie occurred before our deal…” Johan smiles like a gentleman, like the gentle brother he is meant to be. He dares to smile! It’s so frustrating. “And in fact, I’ve already respected our little deal, in a way… My lackeys as you call them… They obey my orders and yours. No distinction.”

He sounds like he does her a huge favor. It probably is for him, but that doesn’t make her soften up. After all, she is not that naïve. She must wait a bit more and see if he really respects their little deal… He can hide lots of things... And she is still waiting for a phone in fact. She has to contact Tenma and Dieter.

Johan opens the door of the bathroom, and he slowly raises his hand towards the exit, telling her that they must go. She points a threatening finger at him. “We’ll talk about it later, I'm not done with you yet…”

And Johan chuckles again, not terrified at all. He seems to have fun. “I can’t wait for that to happen.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not an English speaker, I'm French. I hope I didn't make too many mistakes!
> 
> WIX2


End file.
